Brutal Honesty
by Sunriserooftops
Summary: Jenny returns to the Upper East Side, and she's brought a friend with her that challenges everything our favorite people does; But who's the mystery girl, really?
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any of the Gossip Girl characters, nor do I claim to. However I do claim the rights to my OC, Kaitlin Corrigan and other OC characters that may develope.

I hope you'll enjoy the story, and reviews are much appreciated!

_2011-01-14: Update: I've recently replaced all the chapters and fixed them to make sure there are dividers between them. I've been doing it as a distraction to keep me from writing the last chapter. I will be updating once every week from now on. Starting today._

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Brutal Honesty

_Chapter 1. From Katie without love_

Nate looked up from his book, watching Dan crossing the courtyard of Colombia with a blond following closely. The blond, big shades and that funny color of hair only one girl had: Jennifer Humphrey. Since the last time Jenny had been back things had changed. Blair and Chuck were… friendly. And Serena was, she was Serena and never knew what she wanted but he knew she wanted Jenny as far away as possible. He followed Dan and Jenny with his eyes, trying to think of something to say to her if he had the chance. He's forgiven her. he'd known why she was at Chuck's that night, she was there looking for him and in some ways the only one he was really mad at was himself for not being there when she needed him to be.

Such a weak and warm heart, the mocking sound of Chuck's voice in his head laughed. He shook his head and got up from his seat, walking in the exact opposite direction from Jenny and Dan.

Without looking where he was going, Nate did the classically stupid thing and bumped right into a girl. His ice tea spilled over the front of her shirt and she cussed under her breath. "Friggin' city people," she said silent enough so that he probably shouldn't have heard her. "Don't you people watch where you're going? This is like the fourth time someone's bumped into me since I set foot on campus," she exclaimed in complete disbelief.

"I'm sorry," Nate started, almost stuttering at her anger, but not quite being able to keep a soft smile off his lips.

"You should be. This shirt," she said, tugging the fabric. "It's designer." He laughed. Just like every other girl he knew.

"Oh yeah, which one? I know of them all," he said, raising an eyebrow. "So I can buy you a new one."

She scoffed. "It's a Humphrey, you moron, and they can't be bought." Something pricked at the edges of his mind.

"A Humphrey?"

"Yes," she said irritably, pulling tissues from the bag that was slung over her shoulder. "A Humphrey original at that, dumb-dumb. The first and only of its kind," she glared at him. "Made for me."

"So it was a gift from a friend?"

She looked at him with a bemused look on her face. "You sound surprised. Why? I'm not the type to have designer friends? Or what? Because I'm not an Upper East Side snob I don't deserve nice things? Special things? Urgh, you know what," she said, just when he was about to say something. "Never mind. I'm running late. I promised to meet a friend here. Bye, clutz."

She marched away and he stood there, looking after her, still holding the empty cup of tea with his mouth open. "Wow," he said in total disbelief. No, that wasn't a friend of Jenny's. That girl was much, much too bossy and she reminded him of a younger, girly version of Chuck, pre-Blair. Scary thought.

* * *

Jenny looked around and saw Nate staring at some distant spot beyond a pillar. She turned her back quickly and looked at Dan. "This is seriously dangerous," she mumbled under her breath.

"Oh come off it," Katie spat as she gently slapped Jenny on the shoulder.

"My god! What happened to your shirt?" Jenny exclaimed and Katie shrugged.

"Some jerk with an iced tea decided to run into me. At least it wasn't coffee." She rolled her eyes. "It was way too Nothing Hill for me," she said barely lifting her shoulders in a shrug again. "You must be the other Humphrey. I'm Katie." She shook Dan's hand, and somewhere between Jenny staring at her shirt in disbelief and Jenny cracking a smile, Dan wondered how Jenny had even met the girl she'd brought with her. Her long brown hair and bit brown eyes didn't have a trace of the heavy make-up Jenny wore and her jeans weren't any kind of designer Jenny would have heard of.

"Come on, let's go sit down. I'd kill for a latte right now," Katie laughed and pushed Jenny in the general direction of the coffee-bar.

"But-" Jenny stuttered.

"The stain will be there when I've had coffee," Katie said, looking at Jenny sternly. "Neither I nor the shirt will disappear in the next few minutes, you'll get to clean it off, okay? Okay." Jenny nodded and Katie smiled. "Come on little miss non-fat-decaf-soymilk-cinneamon-whatnot frappucino. Latte for the non-designer educated girl. Noooow." Another light push in the right direction and Jenny complied.

Dan had to find out how Katie did that. He'd never seen his sister so calm about a fashion emergency. And he hadn't seen her laugh like that since long before Serena and the Upper East Side entered their lives.

"You," Jenny said pointing to Katie. "Are incorrigible."

"Ah, ten points to the girl who might be taking her SAT's after all." Katie kept her face straight until she looked back at Dan, who was still staring at the duo in complete awe.

"Come on Dan, you're holding up the line," Jenny complained.

"Oh, yeah, right. Coffee." That had been the very last thing on his mind. The girl had to be a miracle worker to make his sister so easy going.

Katie pulled her hair back into a loose bun and smiled at Dan. "So, how are you liking Columbia?"

Dan raised an eyebrow. "Jenny didn't really tell you all that much about me did she?"

Katie laughed and Jenny blushed. "No. I was taking a shot in the dark. But why are we here?"

"That's why," Dan whispered as he saw Nate pass them by.

"Him?" Katie said a little too loud. Nate stopped and looked at Dan, then Jenny and finally grinned at Katie.

"All of them," Jenny mumbled and looked away from Nate as he came over.

"Hey, man," he said, looking at Dan.

"Hey."

"I was just on my way to class. Jenny," he said, curtly. Katie narrowed her eyes at him.

"The iced tea man, that's Nate Archibald? Mr Clutz?" She shook her head. "Oh Jenny."

"Knock it off Kait."

She just smiled at Jenny, a sadly determined smile. "No. Not this time." Nate and Dan looked confused as Katie looked back up at Nate. "You," she started, saying it sharply. "You are a total ass. Just fyi."

Nate's eyebrows shot up into his forehead and he looked from each of the Humphrey's to the new girl. "And you are?"

"Kaitlin Corrigan."

She could tell he was about to introduce himself so she waved her hand at him. Nobody said anything for a while.

"Well, this was… weird," Dan said silently.

"Puh-lease – I've heard everything." She looked at Jenny, who had decided to lean her face into her hands, covering her brightly burning cheeks. "Good and bad, about the gorgeous, glorious Nathaniel Archibald." Her words stung as she spoke them, her eyes like knives.

"What did I ever do to you?" Nate asked her.

She scoffed again. "Nothing but ruin my shirt."

"She can make you a new one," Nate said, pointing to Jenny.

"So?"

Nate had no response to that. "So…"

"Look. I get it. You wanna play nice. Trust me, I understand. It's what keeps this off-balance world of yours from tipping over. But trust me when I say, I didn't come to Manhattan to make friends." She looked at Jenny who had stopped hiding and who was looking back at her with gratitude. "I came here to protect one."

"You shouldn't have told Nate off," Jenny said while she scrubbed away at the t-shirt.

"Oh he can take it," Katie laughed. "Besides, his face was just too priceless to stop once I'd started."

Jenny chuckled.

* * *

"You know, you were totally frozen when he came over," Katie pointed out, the words reaching Jenny in the bathroom where she still scrubbed at the shirt. She heard flipping through a magazine, a random and absentminded sound.

"Yeah…"

"Do you love him?"

She spun around to see Katie standing in the doorway. She made half a shrugging motion and sort of a I-dunno-bout-that face and turn back to the sink.

"So you love him. Well. We're only here for a short, short week, remember, no funny business and no going out with any Upper East Siders without me. Not even Eric."

"Kait-"

"No." Her voice went up higher at the end before she looked at Jenny. "Jen, come on. You know how this goes. Remember the Parsons audition? When you came back to Hudson? Cos I do. You said you felt like you needed to shower for a week straight."

"I know," Jenny mumbled, closing her eyes. "I know. But that doesn't make this any easier."

"You're home to see your family. Hang out with Dan and your dad and maybe even Lily and Eric, but the moment you start pushing it-"

"I've got you here, Kait. I won't even have the opportunity to start pushing it." Jenny laughed and put the t-shirt down. "Got the stain out. I still cannot believe you made me look at it all day."

"It was a stain, not the end of the world," Katie laughed. "Come on, let's go see if Lily and Rufus are home yet, I'm dying to meet Eric."

"All right…"

She watched her friend, the brutal brunette slip into a pair of slippers and twist her hair up. No make-up and a t-shirt Jenny would never have been caught dead in paired with worn out jeans, that had actually been worn to look like that, not bought.

"Jen, come on!"

"No more caffeine for you," Jenny stated as she followed her friend.

* * *

The next day was spent avoiding any place Blair Waldorf might possibly show up. As well as any place Chuck Bass might surface. Though Katie pointed out they weren't gonna go anywhere near the classy strip clubs. Jenny'd just laughed and wondered why she hadn't brought Katie home when she was going to the Parsons audition.

"So," Kait said, looking at the house. "This is the loft?"

"Yup. Home."

"Wanna go up, see it?"

"Nah. Dan lives there, so does Vanessa. Vanessa is…" She remembered the late night and the Skype meeting. "We better steer clear just for safety. "

"Why?"

"Cos, unlike you, Vanessa's not that kind of brutal brunette." Katie laughed.

"Brutal brunette… I like it!"

"Hey, what are you doing here?" a voice snapped and Jenny went rigid. Katie shook her head as she turned to face the girl.

"You must be Blair," Katie said, her voice cold and her smile insincere.

"Yes, I am. Not that it's any of your business." She turned back to Jenny. "I thought I told you to stay away-"

"You did. But I told her to see her family."

Blair looked at Katie like she was a piece of paper stuck to her shoe. "And you are?" she said, asking mostly because she was annoyed, and not caring for five seconds.

"An honest voice. Which this place desperately needs."

Blair turned her hard gaze to Jenny who looked so small all of a sudden. "Blair Waldorf, this is Kaitlin Corrigan. Kait, you assumed right, this is Blair." The first part had been some kind of reverence, but the later part meant for Katie was filled with anger and loathing. Good, Katie thought. Maybe you'll stand up to her and show her your true colors sometime soon. Instead of those wanna-be color you're been putting on so far.

"I'd say it's a pleasure, but I would be lying," Blair started and Katie just waved her off, like she'd done Nate the day before.

"I don't care what you say, or think, or anything really. What are you doing here anyway?"

Blair gawked at the new girl.

* * *

"Nate." The deep voice shook him, made him look up from the cup sitting on the counter.

"Hey man. How was the club?"

"Same old. What are you doing?" Chuck asked as he turned around with a glass of scotch in his hand.

"Staring."

"Yes, I can see that. The question is why."

Nate rubbed his chin and turned to face Chuck. "I met this girl, and she was… She was brutal."

"Oh Nate, not another one. We do not need another Juliette-"

"No no, she's here with Jenny. Visiting from Hudson."

"Right."

Nate looked at Chuck with heavy confusion. "What was that for?"

"That look. I didn't mean the girl would be another Juliette, Nathaniel. I only meant I don't need you moping around here for another month or so."

"No, that's not it. She didn't care who I was. Like, really, really didn't care. She insulted me, Chuck. Even after she knew who I was."

Chuck laughed. "Oh, then she must be worth all this time and effort, is she managed to insult you. Nate, Blair could do that on a semi-minute basis if you got on her bad side. If you want insults…"

"No," Nate said, closing his eyes for half a second. "Not like that. She meant it. She thought I was a douche." He looked at Chuck and smiled. "I wonder what she'd think of you…"

"As if it would even matter," Chuck said behind veiled eyes.

"She's not like anything you're ever been through Chuck. She makes Blair look demure and shy in comparison." Chuck's eyes glistened and a wicked smile spread across his face. "What are you thinking?" Nate asked, suddenly worried.

"I need to meet this girl."

Chuck downed his scotch and smiled even wider.


	2. Chapter 2

**Brutal Honesty**

_Chapter 2. Bonding and breaking_

"Jenny!" Dan called, looking around the apartment.

"In here," he heard a soft voice, that did not belong to his sister.

"Where's Jenny?" he asked, leaning against the doorway to Jenny's old room.

"She's with Eric, getting thos decaf-nonfat thingies she insist on drinking. I still say it's not coffee."

Dan laughed. "So she left you to fend for yourself?"

"If you haven't noticed, I do most of the fending anyway," Katie smiled and curled into a sitting ball on the bed, a book in her lap and her brown hair hanging down in her eyes. "I know Jenny's your sister and all, but could you please tell me just why she turns into this... Marshmallow, around you people? Like, an evil marshmallow. I heard her talking to Eric about wanting Chuck Bass dead – the Jenny from Hudson's not like that."

Dan made a motion, asking if he could come in, and she nodded so he sat down on the chair in front of her. "How much do you know?"

"Everything. And that's why I don't get it. Jenny doesn't want to be this girl, she doesn't like the girls who are like that and she would rather die than be that way herself if she had a good choice. And she does!" Katie exclaimer, her hands flailing about.

Dan laughed. "I know. I just wish she had some sense-"

"Ah!" Katie huffed in a laugh. "You're one to talk young mr Humphrey? I heard about your little... Debacle."

"From who?" he asked, his eyebrows knitting in his forehead. She smiled at him, a soft and sweet smile that didn't seem like the though girl that had told Nate off the other day.

"Your father."

"Oh..." His lips pouted out and he made a funny, uneasy face. "Well, that was-"

"Stupid?" Katie filled in and he cracked a smile.

"Yes, it was stupid. And nothing like me. The me I used to be."

"Sounds like it's not just Jenny who's having a hard time keeping her head level around here."

"It's not, but don't let her catch me saying that, ever." They shared a short laugh and then Katie sobered up.

"Take her out to dinner tonight, I can stay here alone, but why don't you hang out with you baby sister for a night? Take her home to Brooklyn, go to your favorite dive and listen to music and have a good night?"

"A date with my sister?"

"Sister-brother bonding time," Katie beamed. "My brother used to do it all the time with me," but her voice softened at the end.

"He doesn't anymore?"

"No." She looked away, seemingly thinking for a while. "He's still in Iraq."

Dan nodded, showing her he understood if she didn't want to talk about it and then he gave her a sweet smile. "Why don't you come with us out?"

"No. Take Jenny to her roots, and while you're there, try to see if you can find the guy you used to be, or see where he's gone to. If you want him back," she added the last part as an open door for him.

He nodded again, and then got up from the chair. "Thanks," he said, turning around to look at her again as he stood in the doorway.

"No problem. I'm just looking out for my friend. And since she loves you, I guess I'll look out for you too. "

* * *

Sitting in the kitchen turned out to have been a dumb idea, but Katie just couldn't resist the big table and the way she could spread out her pencils and brushes.

"Who the hell are you?" sounded a sharp voice. She looked up and almost laughed the girl in the face.

"I could say the same for you, only I've seen your photo in Lily's study." She stood and looked at the tall, skinny blond and shook her head. "Serena van der Woodsen. Amazing how someone so... plain, can be considered so beautiful."

Serena's eyes widened and she started down at the shorter brunette. "You never said who you are," Serena pointed out in a cold voice.

"I know. But before I let you in on that secret, here's another one. You destroy everything you touch. Every good thing you think you're doing, it's all a lie. In your head, the wrong you did, you've stopped, it's all in the past. Guess what princess?" Katie glared at her, trying to not shoot daggers out of her eyes. "It's far from in the past."

"Who the hell are you?" Serena exclaimed, demanding an answer this time.

"Kaitlin Corrigan," she answered with a smirk. "But you can call me bitch if it makes you feel any better."

Katie looked at the tall girl, trying to not laugh at the look on her face. Katie knew that permission seemed to take the power out of the word bitch all together, and Serena looked almost stunned at the smiling face of Katie.

"What are you doing in my house?"

"Your house?" Katie looked at her in mock confusion. "And here I was thinking it was Lily and Rufus' house!" she said all the more innocent.

"Why are you here?"

"You keep repeating yourself, have you noticed that?" Katie asked, taking a step towards Serena. In turn, Serena backed up a bit.

"Either you tell me, or I call security."

"Do what you want. Not too sure your mom'll like that very much, and I'm pretty sure Dan'll have a fit if you do."

"Dan?"

Katie smiled. "Mmhm, Daniel Humphrey. A big ol' fit if you call security on me. Which guessing by the look on your face wouldn't be anywhere near your wishes, would it? Unless it's over you..." She shook her head again. "You're such a devious thing, aren't you? Thinking you can do whatever you want, whenever you want and no one ever calls you on it... Apart from Nate, but you deserved that."

"Who the hell are you?" Serena shouted at her, tears brimming in her eyes.

"I'm a friend of Jenny's, I came with her home over break. I knew she would need someone to lean on if you idiots were going to try to ruin her life again."

"Us trying to ruin hers-" Serena began, furious.

"You don't know Jenny like I do. You don't know the girl that came home after the audition to Parsons and cried every day, who barely ate or slept for a week. You can't see what you've done to her, because you are all so preoccupied with trying to find the next person who's life you can ruin. Like poor Juliette. That girl needed help when you were finished with her. Or even Vanessa, Dan's childhood friend. You ruined their friendship, their relationship and for a while every ounce of trust those two had for each other, but you never seemed to mind much. But you didn't, did you? Cos everything was about you – poor Serena, getting her heart broken. Getting it on with a married man, that has to be the lowest kind of degradation though. Screw the drugs, the sleeping around, but the moment you touch a married man, then there's a special word for you. Mistress. And poor Nate, having to live with you wanting his cousin before you even got your eyes open to him."

Serena had backed up another step, looking like a deer caught in the headlights. "How- How do you know..." she stuttered.

"Time for a reality check, Serena." Katie sat back down in her chair by the table, looking at the on-the-verge-of-crying Serena. "You need to stop blaming everyone else and open your eyes to see what you have done. Maybe starting to make a few apologies would be in order too?"

Serena blinked hard a few times, turning on her heel and walked with quick and determined steps back to the elevator.

Katie exhaled and collapsed over the surface of the table, tears in her eyes as she finally managed to breathe again. The anger and hatred in Serena's face, it made her chest ache and her spine tingle. She was feeling everything at once, and she kept flashing on Jenny talking about Chuck.

"Four down," she said, muffled against the table. "Two to go..." And the mere thought exhausted her.

* * *

Serena slammed the door to Chuck's apartment and was surprised to see a dazed Nate sitting on the couch, while Chuck paced the floor.

"That BITCH!" she screamed. That got their attention.

"Let me guess," Chuck said in his normal calm tone. "You had a little run in with the girl from Hudson?"

"Yes!" she growled. "She's horrible!"

Nate laughed. "No, she's different. She's honest."

"Honest?" Serena shrieked. "She's fucking brutal! She made me feel like a worthless piece of crap!"

Blair emerged from the bathroom, her purse clutched in her hands. "She can't get away with this," she said solemnly.

"Who?" asked a choir of voices.

"Jenny Humphrey."

* * *

Nate looked at Blair and Serena, both of them suddenly smiling like they had just hatched the best plan of all time. He stood up and looked back at Chuck.

"No. No more revenge, no more putting Jenny through hell. No more. You have to stop."

Blair looked shocked, Chuck looked proud and Serena looked pissed. "I knew it!" she hissed.

"Knew what?" Nate asked tiredly.

"I knew you'd side with Jenny, again! You keep doing it, over and over, and evern though she proves herself unworthy of it, you keep protecting her!"

"Shut up Serena," Chuck managed to get out, before Nate slammed the door closed and left.


	3. Chapter 3

**Brutal Honesty**

_Chapter 3. Don't_

Nate was boiling by the time his feet hit the sidewalk. After everything they had been through, couldn't Serena just trust him? Why did that seem to be such an impossible thing for her to do? It wasn't him that had been involved with a married- and there he stopped himself. He was just as bad as she was. Who was he kidding?

* * *

Katie snuck up from her side of the huge double bed Jenny had in her room and tip-toed out into the living room. She didn't want to wake Jenny due to the late hour she had finally gotten in at. She and Dan had managed to have a great night, she'd told her when she got home. Now all Katie could do was let her sleep, and maybe see what all the fuss about the Upper East Side was about.

"Hey," sounded Eric's voice and Katie turned around to see him by the table. She smiled.

"Hi," she said, her voice still hoarse from it being morning. "You're up early?"

"Nah, the other's can sleep all day. I wasn't able to really do that, once I got out..." He trailed off, seeming to realize he didn't know her.

"It's okay," Katie said with a soft smile, sitting down opposite him. "I used to have a sister."

He looked up, understanding in his eyes, and the guilt washed over him. So I don't need to worry about you, do I? Katie thought and tilted her head while watching him eat.

"I'm fine now," Eric said, not looking at her. "I'm happy. I guess it would be better to have Jenny here, but..."

"Some things take time. Jenny needs to heal. I'm sure you took your time healing back up."

He nodded. "I don't know if I'm done yet," he almost whipsered, as if he was afraid someone might hear him say it. Someone who wasn't her.

"I don't mean to be rude or anything Eric, but why did you do it?"

He looked at her, confused at first and then something settled in his eyes. Understanding. "You wonder why your sister did it...?"

She shook her head. "No. She did it when Harry enlisted. She had always been a little fragile, him leaving was the final straw I guess. But with your family, your money, you could have... I dunno, run away to a spa or something."

He laughed. A real, genuine laugh while he shook his head. "I guess. But I didn't feel that was an option. Today, probably would have gone with the approach. But I was..."

She smiled encouragingly and he just shrugged with a sigh, instead of actually saying it. She nodded again, feeling understanding wash over her again. She just wished Nina had been as sensible as Eric.

"Look, Jenny was corrupted, I've seen it so many times. The trick is to know that this world is shallow and hollow and it holds no happiness, then you can find it somewhere else. But Jenny looked at Serena and Blair and thought that was what happiness looked like. She took tips from people she should have stayed away from, and most of all, she shouldn't have befriended Nate like she did."

"What do you mean?" Katie asked, her eyes narrowing.

"Nate was a taken man already when he and Jenny kissed at the masked ball. But instead of figuring out he was thinking of someone else, and moving on like she should have, she started falling for him..."

"I know, but I think there might be more to the Nate/Jenny drama than you guys know about. So tell me, what do you know?"

And Eric launched the story of Jenny, Serena and Nate, the love, the bitterness, the hate, the fights, and it all ending in Chuck sleeping with Jenny.

"So, none of you knows that Nate-"

"What are you guys talking about this early?" Jenny mumbled as she padded over to the fridge, seemingly out of thin air.

"Milk," Eric said quickly. "And cheese..."

"And the swedish thing my mom and I had during vacation, they call it filmjalk."

Now Jenny narrowed her eyes at them.

"OH MY GOD!" she finally exclaimed, looking from one guilty face to another. "Your were about to tell him about me and Nate!"

In all the commotion, no one had heard the elevator ding.

"What about you and Nate?" Nate said, looking over the shaggy blond, her blond hair sticking up in a typical bed-head hairdo and a long t-shirt just barely covering the essentials. Katie noticed the fighting of a smile.

"Nothing," Katie said. "She's still mad at me for hammering you the other day, says I should know better considering."

"Oh," he said, a look mixed from disappointment and confusion crossed his face and then he settled into a chair by the table as Jenny did the same. Somehow the honesty she'd thrown at him the other day had settled him into some safe idea of her not lying. Jenny looked at her, suddenly nervous and Katie smiled, softly shaking her head.

"Okay, okay, so maybe not-" she said, feeling Jenny staring at her. "-that."

Nate looked confused. "So what?"

"I was just telling Eric about the night, before Chuck, somewhere between the Serena debacle and Jenny's heart breaking..." Nate blinked and she could see the memory in his eyes as he looked at Jenny.

"You told her?"

"Yes. I tell her everything. When I need to, I mean, feel like it."

"I'm starting to think you're more of a shrink than a friend," Nate said, looking at Katie.

"Then you're wrong. But you can't always be right. Right?"

"Sure," Nate said, looking only at Jenny.

Katie knew what was going through their minds, their eyes linked. It was the best kept secret of all. The only one Jenny would never throw back in the face of anyone. It was her only treasure. And some days, Katie had found out, it was her only reason for getting up.

_

* * *

_

Silence. Jenny looked around and touched Nate's naked arm, the heat from his skin crawling into her fingers as she continued to caress the length of his arm.

"_Are you awake?" she'd whispered, and a smile played at the corner of his mouth._

"_Mm," he'd moaned, rolling over on his side, facing her. "How long have you been up?"_

"_Few moments."_

"_What time is it?" he'd asked, still that tired smile playing at the corner of his mouth._

"_Almost eleven. We've only slept for a couple of hours."_

"_We need to stop playing so much, and so long," he'd groaned, about to move his fingers and arm when he stopped, looking at Jenny's hand. Her pale skin against his tanned arm._

"_What?" she'd laughed, and he'd stopped breathing for almost a minute. Then, unexpectedly, he bent in and kissed her cheek. It was a light kiss, one that would have gone unnoticed if it hadn't left a burning mark on her cheek. "What was that for?" she'd whispered. He'd smiled. Then he'd kissed her again, a real and proper kiss that made her think there was happiness for her after all. _

_He'd run his hand down the side of her body, she'd been pulled closer to him and the kiss had gone from sweet and loving to a raging fire that Jenny didn't want to stop, nor did she know how to. But Nate had pulled away, leaving her cold and on fire at the same time. He'd never said he was sorry, he hadn't made excuses instead he'd tucked her head in the crook of his neck and held her there, as they went back to sleep. _

* * *

Jenny had re-told the story to Katie once, but seeing that fire flash in Nate's eyes and the gutwrenching feeling of something horrible coming her way, she looked down. She looked at her hands as she wrung the grapes from the vines and then looked up at Katie, who's eyes were filled with sympathy.

"Is anyone gonna let me in on the secret?" Eric said, breaking the magically painful moment.

"I kissed her," Nate said. And Eric made a 'duh' sound. "I kissed her when I was with Serena, and it was all me."

Eric's eyebrows shot up into his forehead and Karie smiled. "I don't want to hear excuses or apologies or whatever might come from that little confession. I don't think Jenny wants any either."

Nate nodded. "I wasn't going to offer one," he mumbled, looking away from Jenny down at the table. Katie shook her head and was about to smile, when Jenny got up, dropping the grapes on the table and ran towards her room.

"I knew I shouldn't have come today," Nate said, starting to get up from his chair. "Stupid."

"Hey," Katie called after him. "Why did you come?"

"To tell Jenny to be careful. Blair and Serena's up to something."

Eric laughed a bitter laugh and Katie shook her head again, this time in sevre disapproval. "When aren't they?" she said bitterly. And then she got up from her chair too, leaving Eric alone at the table, following Nate towards the elevator.

"Look," she said in a hushed voice. "Jenny needs you to not want to apologize when you try to get close to her, you understand? Despite that tough girl facade you guys can't seem to see through, she's scared to death of you rejecting her, and I've understood that's quite a lot of times Nate." He looked guilty. "Your friendship with Jenny, if there's such a thing left," she scoffed. "You need to make sure she knows you love her for her, and not for the messed up kid she was, is when she's here. If I were you..." But she trailed off, looking into his eyes.

"If you were me?"

"I'd come up to Hudson and see Jennifer. And not, Little J." Her eyebrows knitted closely and she tried an uncomfortable smile. "Get it?"

"Got it."

"Good," Katie said and turned on her bare feet to leave him. He pressed the button to the elevator and then stopped.

"Katie?"

"Mm?" She spun around.

"I can tell, she's not the same. With you here, it's like she's Jenny again."

"Give it time," Katie encouraged. "There are still wounds that need healing."

And with that, she left Nate alone, waiting for the elevator.

* * *

In another part of Manhattan a Gossip Girl blast was received with thrilled expressions.

"This is priceless," Serena chirped, and Blair agreed.

"Let's see them trying to make something of this," Blair said, an obvious maliciousness to her voice.

"That would be something!" Serena laughed, sounding nothing like herself.

* * *

Chuck listened to the girls laughing, and just when he stuck his head out of his room he saw Nate come through the door. "They're still here," he said. Nate nodded.

"Hey," he roared, clutching his phone in one hand, waving it at them. "What the hell is this? Have you been spying on Jenny?"

"And here he comes, to the rescue," Serena said vicously.

"Fuck you Serena, you-" He turned to Blair, pointing the phone. "This – is – not – okay!" he shouted, smashing the phone against the hardwood floor.

"That's oak floors," Chuck said in his usual calm tone.

"So?" Nate hissed. Chuck smiled and backed off. "How come you two think you can ruin anybody's life you see fit? Huh? Do you realize what this will do to Jenny? Do you have any idea what it will do to you two, when I turn on you?"

"You wouldn't," Serena challenged.

"Oh I would," he said coldly. "I most certainly would. And I have more dirt on either of you, than anyone you know. Including him," Nate said, with a nod to Chuck.


	4. Chapter 4

**Brutal Honesty**

_Chapter 4. Best laid plans… are easy to ruin_

There was only one way of Chuck finding out who the girl was who caused all this ruccus. Serena and Blair had been blown to bits, Nate had gotten the verbal beating of a lifetime, according to Nate Dan had gotten a preaching not of this world and he wasn't sure who else had been put in harms way. No, her name was Katie. Not harm. He smiled to himself in the limo and buzzed down the window.

"We're taking a detour," he said. "I'd like to stop by Lily's house for a quick visit."

"Sure, Mr Bass."

It was time he met the Hudson girl_._

"No, he cannot, and I will not-" Jenny said loudly, exasperated. "Katie, there is one thing about me and Nate that you don't seem to understand-"

"I understand just fine, Jen. Nate cares for you, more than he will admit right now. And you need to be strong, go back to Hudson and just wait it out. The Gossip Girl blast doesn't reach Hudson in the same way," she said sympathetically.

The elevator dinged and Katie looked over Jenny's shoulder. She saw a pair of beige pants and a shirt walking towards them. Jenny looked at Katie, panic in her eyes.

"Jenny, you're home?" his voice drawled. Katie looked at his handsome face and his way of moving. Man, this guy was some piece of work.

"Short week, long weekend," Jenny blurted out.

"Ah, I see." He turned his eyes on Katie and looked from Jenny to Katie. "And who might you be?" he asked in a velvety voice. Hoho, if she hadn't known better!

"Katilin. Corrigan. And you're the fish."

Chuck's eyes widened and Jenny suppressed a snicker.

"Charles Bass," Chuck corrected. "A pleasure, I'm sure."

"Bass is a fish," Katie pointed out and smiled a sarcastic smile while pulling her hair up.

Chuck just stood there for a moment not knowing what to say. "True enough." He could give her that one. He sat down by the breakfast table. "So, how long are you staying Jenny? I think Blair might want to know…"

"We met Blair the other day," Katie said with a small and somewhat evil smile.

He liked her. "Did you now?"

"Yeah," Jenny said meakly. Katie wanted to reach across the table and slap her back to her senses. But that wouldn't be any good, and wouldn't work, as long as the fish was around.

"It was nice to meet you, Fishy, but Jen and me, we got places to go, people to see." She got up from the table, waiting for Jenny to react. "Come on," she said, putting a firm hand on Jenny's shoulder.

"What people?" Chuck asked, just as they were about to go up the stairs. Jenny finally snapped out of it and smiled down at him.

"Poor people, people who work in thrift shops and love used clothes. Wanna come, Chuck?" she asked pointedly.

"No."

Katie laughed. "We didn't think so."

* * *

Jenny was getting dressed when the door opened and she shreiked. Katie glared at the person opening the door, her back to Jenny in the normal fashion and her head tilted in annoyance at the cold eyes on the other side.

"Sorry," he said, and then he looked Katie over. "May I borrow you for a moment?" he asked her, and she looked over her shoulder at Jenny who was hiding behind a curtain.

"Go. Maybe I can change in peace," she said hurriedly.

Katie laughed. "Fine."

She shut the door behind her, pressing her back against it and looked at Chuck. "What do you want?"

"I was going to ask you the same thing," he said slowly.

"Okay," she cut off. "What is it you think you know?"

He chuckled slowly. "Oh I don't think I know anything, Corrigan." His voice was hard as he spoke her name, it was pointedly, like it was the only name that counted. Her heart sank.

"Damn you," she said softly. "How could I not have seen this coming?" She shook her head. "Of course. Now, what to you want?"

"I want-" and he thought about it for a good long while. "You."

"Denied."

He laughed.

"I don't think you understand, Kaitlin, I wasn't asking for a date. I'm just telling you. And since I know all about your brother-"

"Leave him and my sister out of this!" she growled, taking a step towards him.

"Your sister, I only heard of a brother," he said in a slightly different tone.

She looked away. "She's dead," she said in a quiet voice. But then she looked up and anger blazed in her eyes. "But with the sick things you people do to each other, I wouldn't be surprised if you tried throwing her in my face. I happened to love my sister a lot, and I won't be hurt by anything you say about her. She was confused but never did anything wrong."

He nodded. He knew what it felt like to have someone die on you. To just disappear and not think twice of the people left behind. He looked her over again, this time she looked different to him. She wasn't just a firecracker. She was... vulnerable. She was tougher than Blair, nowhere near as mean and she had an inner fire that he couldn't wait to explore a little better.

"My brother is in the army now, Bass, even petty theft isn't that bad if you compare it to some of the things you've done, I'm sure of it. And my sister's..." She swallowed hard. "Suicide, she had already been unstable for months, years even, and when our mother got re-married and our brother enlisted, she just couldn't, couldn't fight anymore."

His eyes seemed to soften and she shook her head.

"You had nothing on me?"

"You sound surprised," he said sweetly. "I may seem cold as a fish to you Kaitlin, but-"

* * *

Jenny opened the door, looking at the scene in front of her. Katie looking vulnerable and Chuck looking sweet. She was about to say something when Chuck's phone rang.

"Saved by the bell," Katie breathed and took Jenny's hand to pull her away from Chuck, who looked as stunned as ever.

"Oh my god!" Jenny laughed as the elevator doors closed. "Katie!"

"Don't Jenny. I thought he was gonna throw my sister in my face, and I let my guard down. I was stupid."

"He looked at you like you were human!" Jenny said incrediously.

"He did not."

"He did too!"

They entered the foyer and Jenny walked backwards, calling out somewhat loud "Chuck and Katie, sittin in a tree – K-I-S-S-I-N-"

"Gee, what do we have here?" Blair said, her voice putting ice in both of the girls veins. Katie turned and glared at her.

"We were just leaving," she said and quickly walked past both her and Serena.

"Not so quick," Blair said, catching Jenny's arm in a tight grip. "You and your friend might have the boys fooled, Little J, but we know you're here to de-throne whoever you can."

Katie started laughing hysterically."De-throne?" she squeaked, holding her stomach she was laughing so hard. "Oh my god, you are such- such a dramaqueen," she panted, looking at Blair with pure amusement. "De-throne? This isn't a kingdom, Blair, this is a city made up of islands and people, steel and concrete and bodies buried deep within constructions you wish there wasn't bodies in. Get a grip!" she snapped. "And that blast was so immature!"

She slapped Blair's hand, the one holding Jenny's arm, and stepped in between them.

"You really think you're different from us?" Serena said in a condesending tone.

"No. I don't think I am different. I know I am." And then the stare-off began. Serena's eyes held Katie's and neither of them seemed to be able to budge anytime soon.

"Kait," Jenny said softly.

"Gimme a minute," Katie said, not taking her eyes off Serena.

Jenny had seen alley cats do this when she'd lived in Brooklyn, she never thought people did it until she came into the world of the Upper East siders. But what surprised her was the confidence Katie had here. Like she... belong, like it was her place in life to put these other people in place.

"Who are you? Really?" Serena hissed.

"Your worst nightmare come to life?" Katie snickered with a stern look."But do you really want to know?"

Serena nodded, them still not looking away.

"My mother designed that dress," she said, pointing to Serena's dress. "And my father probably manufactured some part of that phone, there, Blair." Jenny looked at Blair, who's phone was being tapped at as Katie spoke.

"WHAT?" the blond and the brunette exclaimed, Serena looking away from Katie to look at Blair, their words echoing around the foyer.

Jenny laughed. "God, you two are so stupid."

"You're a society kid?" Chuck's voice echoed along with the laugh of Jenny.

"No," Katie said, looking at Chuck. "I grew up in Hudson. My parents just happened to be good at what they do."


	5. Chapter 5

**Brutal honesty**

_Chapter 5. I'm fine_

Jenny had been insisting when she moved. She was just fine. Her mother had taken her in, told her she was there if Jenny ever needed to talk, but Jenny didn't want to talk. Not to her mother, the mother who left her and their life to shack up in Hudson and live her life there. No, Jenny had no thoughts what so ever of talking to her mother of what had happened. She was also in no mood to talk to anyone else. She put all her focus into the dresses she wanted to make. She put all her effort to stay sane into the sketches. Whenever someone asked, she had said "I'm fine," and they had all believed her.

On the inside, Jenny had been ripping herself to shreds. She had been sneaking out late at night to smoke, to meet up with the potheads and she'd tried to get herself to forget. She had always insisted on her own health when someone asked her. She felt good, being in Hudson. That was a lie. She had been in so much pain the first while she had been there, she all but lost her mind.

Then she met Katie.

Katie had found her passed out on a bench one night. She had woken Jenny up and asked her if she was okay?

That's when it all fell apart. Jenny had said she was okay too many times, when really she wasn't.

She fell apart.

Katie had sat down next to her on that bench, put an arm around a stranger and asked her what was wrong. Jenny had started by saying it was nothing. But it was really a lot. Katie asked how much Jenny had been smoking, smelling the sweetness on her jacket. Jenny couldn't lie anymore. She was tired, lost and in the arms of a stranger. Not a good place to be. In many ways. Still, she told her everything.

"I need to go home," Jenny had finally said. Katie had nodded.

"Tell me where you live and I'll make sure you get there in one piece."

"But I don't know you," Jenny had said. Katie had smiled at her, shaking her hand and she'd introduced herself as Kaitlin Corrigan. She hadn't left anything out, since Jenny had blurted her heart out. As Katie walked Jenny home that night, holding onto her so she didn't fall, Katie told Jenny everything about the life she had been living. She told her about her brother and sister, about her mother and father, and Jenny replied with more of the same.

It had been some time before Jenny finally trusted Katie, given she was one of the New York elite's children. Katie told Jenny the absolutely brutal truth at all times, and that was how Jenny finally learned to trust Katie. Jenny managed to convince her mother to let her go to the same school as Katie went to, and soon the two could only be describes as BFF's. Jenny started to flourish, her designs going from black to multicolor in a manner of weeks. And the pain? It started to subside, and it had gone into hiding by the time Jenny went to Parsons.

* * *

They were all sitting down in the living room of the Van Der Woodsen-Humphrey-Bass apartment, all of them staring at Katie as they waited for her to say something to her defense. Jenny kept wringing her hands, looking from Serena to Blair to Chuck to Katie.

"Oh, someone say something," Chuck finally said.

"You just did," Kait smiled. He smiled back at her.

"So, you're mother's like... famous." Serena sounded a bit off when she said it, like she might have committed a cardinal sin by trying to take Katie down.

"Only to other people. Hey, the woman is my mother, okay? She nags me about cleaning, that I don't eat enough, that I needed to get my grades up, that I need to wear more dresses and stop wearing jeans all the time; she's a mother. To you she's über-designer. I call her mama. Okay? No big effing deal."

Jenny smiled as she serenly shook her head, sitting in an out of the spolight seat behind Katie.

"But my mother knows your mother," Blair said in a high, pitchy and most certainly incredulous way.

"Yes. She used to bring my sister to those things, she was the only one who enjoyed the glam of it all." Then she laughed. "I remember when she tried to get my brother to go - man alive did he cry!" She turned around and looked at Jenny who smiled at the mention of Katie's brother. It was one of those "can you say CUTIE" moments, in Jenny's head alas, cos reality was too harsh at the moment.

"Why did you come here, risking being found out?" Chuck drawled.

"Why not?" she asked, defiantly. Then she smiled again. "No, okay, I really did come to protect Jenny. My mother has told me everything about the life on the Upper East Side – I didn't want her to go alone when she just..." Her voice trailed off, and Jenny put a soft hand on her shoulder.

"She means I just got myself back together, without any of this around me. She thinks I'm a good person," and Jenny laughed a little. Serena snorted and Blair scoffed. It was ignored by the other three. "And she wants me to stay true. So she came with me. To be my soul-guard." Katie laughed out loud, throwing her head back, her hair shaking. When Chuck looked at her, he could have sworn it was all in slow motion.

"I cannot believe you said that in public," Katie questioned Jenny, who shrugged and smiled.

"So, you two are friends then? And Katie's not some elaborate rouse?"

"No. We're friends," Katie replied. "Jenny was in no condition to make any long term plans when we met." Their eyes still locked they both flashed on the night Katie had found Jenny on the bench in Hudson. "She was in no condition to do much of anything, actually."

Jenny sighed and looked away, her eyes flooding with tears.

"Jenny," Chuck said, his voice surprisngly soft considering Blair was in the same room. "I am sorry for-"

"Hey, no," Jenny said, snapping her head up. "Look, I know people seem to have gotten it into their heads – specially Dan and dad – that it was against my will. But Chuck, I was the one who wanted to... Remember? I needed solace. You were there. It was a mistake, but I've stopped regretting it."

He nodded. "Thank you, for not hating me."

"If anything," Jenny glanced at Blair before she said: "You should hate me. For what it did to your life." He nodded again, a careful and tenative smile on his face. Katie felt oddly proud of him.

"Chuck!" Blair screeched.

"Not now, Blair," he said, not even looking at her.

"But-"

"Not now." He turned to Katie, the glare he'd given Blair completely gone and another sweet smile gracing his face. "How about I take you lovely ladies to lunch?" he asked the two younger girls. "I'm afriad I want to know everything there is to know about your friendship, without having to involve a P.I."

Katie laughed, took the hand he held out for her. "I'm gonna say yes, because I am starving and I think Jen is too. Also, because I think someone who doesn't jump to conclusions about me and our friendship – like that effing blast did! – should have some kind of a reward." Her cold fingers were enveloped by his warm hand, and Jenny still hesitated for a second before she got up from her seat.

"I trust you," she said to Katie, and no one else seemed to understand. But Katie smiled.

"I still dunno why," Kait replied with a quirky smile.

* * *

"Are you for real?" Chuck asked as Jenny went to get them a table in the back of the diner.

"Do I look fake?"

And he eyed her, his eyes seemingly caressing every inch of her that he could see. It made her laugh.

"Not in the least."

"You are such a perv," she said, amused.

"Over here," Jenny waved as Katie weaved through the crowd.

"Food," the girls said in unison as Katie put the tray down between her and Jenny.

"Let me take you out, somewhere proper?" Chuck said, not sitting down, not having ordered a thing.

"Which one of us, Fishy?" Katie said, tilting her head to the side.

He looked a little bothered. "Not that I don't- uhm, enjoy your company Jenny-"

"Hey, don't sweat it," she said, completely different in the dive of a diner with Katie than she had been in the apartment with Serena and Blair around. He couldn't help but notice the difference. "I wouldn't come to dinner with you anyway," she said, her mouth almost full with a french fry.

"Then I'm asking you, Kaitlin, if you will please join me for dinner at 8?"

Katie frowned. "Who eats at 8? We always had dinner at five in my house... But sure," she smiled, when he was starting to look worried. "You are the enemy though, but behind enemy lines, as they say."

"Yes, Well, I will pick you up at Lily's 7:30, is that okay?"

"Why not?" she shrugged and then with a smile, he left them.

"You're going on a date with Chuck Bass?" Jenny laughed at her.

"Apparently so," Katie said, a frown suddenly darkening her face as she realized just what this meant.

The boyfriend would not be happy about this.


	6. Chapter 6

**Brutal Honesty**

_Chapter 6. Let me take you (downtown)_

There was something in the air while Chuck waited downstairs for Katie. He would have mistaken it for a light case of mist if it hadn't been for the feeling somewhere deep down in his gut that made his world whirl by a little faster, only to slow to a crashing halt. The girl in front of him, her long dark hair, her glowing born eyes gently sooted, her slim form covered in layers and layers of the softest kinds of black fabric, from a barely black to a softer shade of grey, she was wrapped up in soft flaps. He had ever seen a dress like that in his life. He wanted to credit her mother, but he was all to aware of Jenny Humphrey upstairs, and her amazing talent, to put credit where he wasn't sure it should be.

"You look-" he barely got out, before she smiled, making her brown eyes flare and glitter and she shivered a little against the colder air of the outside. She shrugged into her red jacket with the help of Chuck and he couldn't help but look down at her bare legs, the skirt cutting just above her knees. Her feet were as tightly wrapped as she was in a pair of strangely suiting black boots. He smiled at her, trying to think of the last time he had seen Blair look this gorgeous. He tried, and as hard as he tried, Katie kept taking up his entire field of vision. She was like a magnet, and he was an innocent piece of scrap metal that couldn't help himself but be pulled to her. She smiled, before getting into the limo before him.

"I really should have said no to this dinner," she said as Chuck had finished fidgetting in his seat.

"Why do you say that?" He felt a slight sting, was this what rejection was?

"Because, I have someone... I mean, well-"

"Don't worry. Complicated is my middle name, Katie, you don't have to explain. It's dinner, and anything else you want." He couldn't help but sneak the inuendo in there – it had bene too tempting not to.

She laughed. "Good. That's good," she exhaled, like it had been bothering her for a long time. Maybe it had?

He offered her a drink, anything she wished, and she smiled at him. "I don't drink, Bass."

"What?" he said, looking as shocked as he possibly could. She laughed at him and touched his thigh.

"Don't worry, Bass, drinks are the last things about me that should surprise you. Just wait and see."

That sounded awfully tempting.

* * *

As the food arrived Katie and Chuck were wrapped up in conversation. She was telling him about her childhood summers; visiting her mother in New York; flying to Japan with her father. And he in turn told her about his father's wives and the disipline he proved to be lacking in almost every relationship he had ever had.

She asked him about Blair, and he told her the truth. "I have no idea what I'm doing."

She smiled, and that's the the waiter showed up with their food. Katie stared at the ridiculously tiny piece of chicken on her plate and then looked at Chuck. She waited for the waiter to go away and then she whispered "This is the entré right? The food is yet to come?" She was obviously sarcastic, and he smiled.

"Nope, that's it."

"Right..." she said, poking the little piece of chicken with her fork. "Yeah, I'm gonna need real food after this," she said with a nod, gazing up at Chuck without lifting her head.

He was chuckling, looking at his own tiny portion. "I think we can arrange that."

* * *

"Now this," Katie said, her full mouth covered by her free hand. "Is food."

He laughed. She looked at him, and there was something so stunning about him when he laughed like that. It was the first free, easy, happy laugh she'd seen him let out ever.

"You don't remember me, do you?" she mumbled, as they walked down the sidewalk.

"Excuse me?" Chuck said, barely having touched his hot-dog.

"When I was... four, my father had a meeting with your father. Mom couldn't find a sitter, so they moved the meeting to your father's house. You and I played for almost the entire day – even if you thought I was just another annoying little girl."

"Kay," he said softly. She nodded.

"That's me."

"Wow..."

And suddenly, there was innocence in his eyes again, something about him that wasn't quite so jaded and all the more beautiful. I'm in trouble, Katie thought as she threw the rest of her hot-dog in the bin, him following her lead, and then she stopped right in front of him,

"I shouldn't do this," she said softly.

"Do what?"

She smiled. "This." And then she reached up, touching his cheeks tenatively before touching her lips to his. The world caught on fire. All she could see and feel was Chuck Bass. The asshole she had been intent on hating... Funny how some things work out.


	7. Chapter 7

_**A/N: OMG! Thank you guys for your kind reviews and all the love, I really love all the reviews and work hard to make sure you guys get the best next chapter I can manage! Lemme know what you think!**_

**Brutal Honesty**

_

* * *

_

Chapter 7. And the fire roars

When Jenny woke up the next morning and saw Kastie sitting by the window with her face buried in her hands, she knew something was wrong. "Have you slept at all?" she said as she swung her legs over the side of the bed, seeing Katie still in her dress.

She shook her head. "I can't get the image of Danny out of my head. He's gonna be so mad at me." Her voice broke and she looked up. "Jenny, last night, was the best and worst night of my life."

"Chuck," Jenny said, completely understanding. Katie nodded.

"Yes, yes Chuck. He's nothing like I thought he would be."

"I know what you mean, he can be really sweet, but Kait, you've got Danny and-"

"I know!" she almost roared, getting up from her seat. "I have Danny, and I love him and we're great together and everything is perfect when he's around because he makes me feel less alone but I don't know-" and there she ran out of steam, or maybe selfloathing.

"Don't know what, Kait?" Jenny had been waiting for this day, for Katie to wake up and smell the lack of 'in lovey-ness' about her and Danny.

"We've been here for a few days, and I don't miss him. I used to miss him when he left the room to get coffee. He was everything I could think of... I don't know when it stopped being like that, but I knew it was over when I kissed Chuck last night."

"You kissed him?" she asked, appaled.

"Yes. And it was so-" Katie shivered. "So hot." A content smirk turned into a laugh and she just smiled. "I should feel awful about it, shouldn't I?"

Jenny nodded. "You need to call Danny."

Katier grunted and fell headlong into the bed, buring her face in the sheets. "Do I have to?" her muffled voice asked and Jenny couldn't help but laugh.

"Yes. It's only right. He should know."

Jenny turned and looked at Katie one last time before she left the room. Katie was looking through her phonebook for Danny's number. There was one phonecall Jenny was glad she didn't have to make.

* * *

Nate had been waiting for four days to say this, and he wasn't going to back out now. He saw Jenny close her door behind her, and she looked just like that morning when they'd woken up together. He walked towards her, her eyes locking with his as they came closer together.

"Nate, what are you...?" Her voice trailed off, and he knew it was because of the intensity with which he looked at her.

"When I woke up next to you that morning, I felt terrified," he confessed. "Touching you, holding you, feeling your breath against my skin, Jenny, it was just too much. I wanted it to be all your fault. I wanted it to be you trying to seduce me, to convince myself I was in the right here. I wasn't doing anything wrong, you were. It was easier that way."

Jenny turned to stone, looking angry, hurt and confused. He touched her shoulder with a soft hand.

"But nothing was your fault. I let it all happen. You were... Are, younger than me. I should know better than to feel so strongly about someone who- who- who-"

"Who what, Nate?" Jenny spat. "Who trusts you? Who cares about you? Who respects you? Who _loves_ you?"

He blinked at the word. It hit him like a ton of bricks. While she just stared back at him, challenging him further.

"It's okay, say it, Nate. Just say it already. Tell me you shouldn't feel anything for someone who loves you so much my heart broke everytime yours did! Tell me you shouldn't be here, tell me you didn't fight to keep it together when I left! Tell me you didn't miss me one bit! Go ahead! Say it!" she yelled at him, hitting his shoulder as she did. "Say it!"

He felt helpless. "I can't."

She glared at him, and he felt his heart starting to beat double time. "Why not?" she demanded. Maybe Katie had rubbed off on Jenny after all, he thought and took a step back.

"Becuase, because it would be a lie." His voice had risen at the end, and he knew he'd finally gotten it out there, the confusion on her face settled like a mask and all he could do was to stay until it had sunk in. "It would be a lie," he said again, softer and almost a whisper, a confirmation of what he had just said. And her hard mask started cracking. But not into the smile he'd hoped for. It was a distorted, angry face that looked back at him.

"All this time!" she exclaimed. "All this time I have been so sure, so sure, you hated me, that you blamed me for everything and you didn't even have the guts to pick up the phone and call me, tell me you missed me? Nate!" she squeaked. "Why? Why wait? Why even tell me?"

The desperation in her voice and the heartbreaking look on her face made him want to take it all back. She was breaking in front of him, and for the split second it took for him to realize just that, he lost his one carefully planned mask. She looked up and the look in her eyes changed from anger to sorrow.

"I missed you, I missed you so much I tried to-" She stopped and shook her head.

"Tried to what?" Worry obvious in his voice.

"Smoke you out of my head," she said with a rueful smile. His heart had stopped at the thought of Jenny trying to end her own life. But it turned out she was balanced enough to not even try. That was good. Maybe in a few years time when he had gotten his act together, and she was a bit more grown up... He dared to think of a forever.

"This is insane," she mumbled, looking away from him, her eyes sweeping over the living room. "Completely crazy. We could have had something so beautiful."

"Could have?"

"I slept with your best friend. You destroyed me when you turned on me for Serena. It all got out of hand, Nate. And that would haunt any relationship we could ever have. I would never trust you, because Serena is always going to be there, in the back of your mind, and you would never trust me, because of what I did and actually didn't do." She took his hands, and kissed the back of them tenatively. "I really hope you find happiness, Nate. But I love you too much to not let you go, let you have a chance at happy." She turned around and left him there, his heart breaking as she walked away and he didn't know what to do.

Yes. He did.

It was time to leave New York. It was time to leave the Upper East Side and find himself a different life. It was the only thing left for him. This, this was killing him, he thought as he stood in the elevator on the way down to the foyer. "It's time," he said to his reflection in the carwindow. He opened the door, looked up and for a moment he thought he saw Jenny all the way up there, looking down on him.

"Where to?" the driver asked.

"Any airport will be fine," he said, riffling through his schoolbag to see if he had his passport with him.

* * *

Chuck woke up to the annoying sound of Blair shreiking on the other side of his bedroom door.

"What the," he mumbled, getting out of bed as fast as he could.

"Chuck! Have you seen this?" She stood in his living room waving her phone at him, and he could see the familiar Gossip Girl logo. He drowsily shook his head.

"No, I just woke up. _You_ woke me up."

She handed him her phone, and his eyes almost popped out.

"Spotted, Nate Archibald boarding a plane headed for a very distant cold-spot. Be careful in those skislopes, or you might come home more broken than you left, Archibald."

He looked at Blair in totla confusion. "What?"

"He's heading for Norway!" she huffed, snatching her phone from his hands.

"Why?"

"How should I know?" she almost shreiked.

"Could you possibly, be a bit quiet? My head-" He held a hand up to his left temple and closed his eyes for half a second.

"Had a long night?" she teased, touching him in an intimate and careing way. He pushed her hand off.

"No, as a matter a fact, it was a nice and just long enough night."

She looked a bit more than disappointed when he showed her the door. He knew why she had been so, nice, and not this time. He needed to sort some things out before he did another stupid something with the youngest Waldorf.

* * *

Dan and Vanessa stared at each other.

"I don't get it," Dan finally said.

"Nate told me he loves Jenny."

"And I think she loves him?" Dan said in a bit more of a question. Vanessa nodded.

"But he's-"

"Why is he leaving?" Dan asked, puzzled. "He told you he was going to tell Jenny, and he wanted you to tell me so I didn't blow up in his face, and since you think Jenny likes him too, there wouldn't be a problem. How am I doing?"

"Aced it so far," she answered.

He nodded. And they both looked at their phone in front of them. "So why is he taking off?"

Vanessa shrugged. "Maybe Jenny turned him down?"

"Maybe he never told her, and took off before he did?" Dan suggested.

"No, Dan. Nate was dead serious, he was going to tell her if it was the last thing he did."

Dan nodded again.

"What?" she asked and he looked up.

"I don't get any of this," he said in a dull tone of voice. She chuckled at his confusion and put a hand over his.

* * *

"Hey Kait!"

His voice exploded inside her head, she couldn't bare the idea of breaking his heart again. That cutie british accent sent a shiver down her spine and she held her ground. At her silence, she could almost hear him frown. She wondered where he was, if he was in the city or if he was headed back to NYU. She thought she heard an engine in the background.

"Kait?" he asked softly, and the tremor in his voice was killing her.

"I did something stupid," she blurted out.

"Like what?"

"I kissed someone."

Silence. Deafening, mind-blowing, heart-breaking silence that seemed to make the silence of the Upper East Side apartment she was in all the more phatomable.

"Who?" he asked, and she knew what he was thinking. That it was that guy he'd met, Jackson, the one who was in New York right now and had asked if he could see her while she was there.

"His name's Chuck."

"The fish?" Danny questioned.

"Yes."

Again, silence. This time it was silence that would have given her a headache if he was there, it was thick with anger. And his voice oozed of disappointment when he spoke again.

"I'm sorry to hear that," he said in a very gathered mannor. He was british after all... "I guess I won't be returning to Hudson in the near future, give you some time alone Kaitlin. I hope you can sort out what you need to. Call me when, or if, you feel like you have your head together."

"Danny-"

"Kait, don't. It'll just make it harder on the both of us. Let's make a clean break. And then if you miss me, want to talk, call. But give me a few months. I don't know if I can forgive you for this."

"Okay," she said, feeling weak and small.

"Okay. Bye, luv."

"Bye..." And before she had finished saying bye, the dialtone hit her and she felt so tired.

* * *

Jenny hid her face under the surface of the bathwater, trying to feel what the first stages of drowing was like. Because that's what her heart felt like. Like it was drowing, chipping for air in a closed off space that no longer contained the supply of oxygen she needed. Seeing Nate's face when she turned him down, the simple act of leaving him there alone. And then the Gossip Girl blast... She was literally fighting for her sanity. She wanted to go in an unload of Katie, but she had enough on her plate with Danny and Chuck and what Jenny was sure Katie felt like losing her mind. And judgement.

She came up from the hot water, her fingers wrinkling as she looked at them, still below the surface. The heat in the water seemed to warm the small and cold pieces of her heart that was still breaking, keeping them from freezing to death while they were so badly hurt.

Her phone buzzed. She reached a dripping hand over, wiped it off on a towel and took her phone. Nate. She put it to her ear. "Yes?"

"I'm going... I don't know when I'll be back," he said, his voice almost harsh, but hesitant and wavering.

"Nate."

"I know. I shouldn't have called you, but I thought. I need to get out, now, Jenny, before I drown in it all."

"I know."

"Will you ever forgive me for not being enough?"

She laughed into the phone. "You were never not enough, Nathaniel Archibald. It was just so bad timing."

"I'll miss you."

"I always miss you."

And then she hung up on him, not wanting to hear another word he had to say. She was sure it was going to kill her.

"My god," she said to herself. "Drama queen much?"


	8. Chapter 8

**Brutal Honesty**

_Chapter 8. Teenage dream?_

"Not everything is meant to be," Jenny said, crushing a piece of pizza into her mouth, Katie had her mouth full, and Eric just watched them both with a mild case of envy.

"I guess not," he said, finally taking a slice of the drippy, tripple meat, lot of cheese and no veggies, deep pan pizza in the carton.

"But somethings are-" Katie said, almost choking on her mouthful. She laughed and swallowed. "I guess I should have returned to New York a lot sooner, if it wasn't for me knowing how stupid you people are," she smiled at Eric.

"Some of us," he corrected, taking small, careful bites of the slice.

"Right," Jenny agreed.

Katie's phone rang, and she looked at the number. "Unknown?" she said doubiously.

"Probably Chuck," Jenny teased.

"Shut up," Katie laughed and wiped her hands before she picked up the phone. "Katie speaking," she answered.

"I need to see you," a voice said at the other end.

"When?" she said, the others seeing her serious frown.

"Tomorrow."

"When?"

"Noon. At your house."

"I'll be there."

Click.

Her heart thudded heavily.

"Who was it?" Jenny asked.

She turned and tried on a smile. "Harry's home."

"What?" Jenny exclaimed, jumping up from the floor.

"Harry's home. Or, heading home."

"But-" Jenny started. Katie nodded.

"I need to leave. Tonight."

"But we were leaving tomorrow," Jenny said softly, not complaining persay. Jenny knew how much Katie missed her brother.

"I'll go alone, Jen, it's okay. You'll be fine here for, what, 18 hours?" she said with a chuckle. Jenny nodded.

"Who's Harry?" Eric asked.

But Katie was already in another world, packing her few clothes in the bag she had with her.

"He's her brother. He's been in Iraq for almost a year... Sometimes he can fit in a skype meeting, but it's not the same," she added in a lower voice, sitting back down on the floor by the pizza carton.

"Rough."

"Yeah." Jenny looked at Katie, who was all gone by now. "It is. But she's strong."

* * *

"Katie?" Chuck called, looking around the house. "Jenny?"

Jenny emerged from her room. "Look, Chuck, there's something you need to know. Katie's packing."

He felt like somebody had punched him in the gut. "What? Why?"

"Her brother called. He's on his way home. Katie says he sounded off, like something was wrong, when she talked to him."

Chuck nodded. He let out the breath he'd been holding, in fear it was because of him she was packing. "So she's a bundle of nerves," he said.

Jenny nodded. "She's been in and out for the last couple of hours, so if you go in, be careful. She's worried out of her mind."

"I will."

Chuck started towards Jenny's room, when she called his name from behind him. He turned and looked at her. "You care about her, right?" Jenny said shrewdly.

"Yes." He'd surprised even himself by admitting that.

"Good." She paused. "The sweet and kind Chuck deserves that girl in there, just make sure you're that Chuck when you go in. I'll rip your hair out if you're a jerk."

He nodded, a soft smile on his lips, and then went down the hall to Jenny's room.

* * *

Katie snapped her head up when the door opened and she felt like crying when she saw Chuck in the doorway.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, her voice almost sad.

"You didn't pick up your phone..."

"I turned it off."

"Jenny told me. You're going home?"

She nodded. "Tonight. The sooner I can get out of here, the better..."

"I'll take you," he said. "The car is parked downstairs, we'd be there in a couple of hours."

She shook her head. "No, I can't, can't spend that much time alone with you," she said, still shaking her head.

"We wouldn't be alone, the driver would be there," he said, trying to break the tension on her face. He succeeded. She cracked a sweet smile and walked up to him.

"I broke Danny's heart today. I told him. About you. Then my brother calls, and he sounds like the world is about to end, and for all I know, that might mean my world is about to end. So I need you to, to..."

He put his hands on her shoulders and looked into her eyes. "Let me take you home."

"I can't." Her voice was no more than a whisper, but it was definite. "I can't."

"Okay," he said, hurt in his eyes.

"I will miss you, so much, and I- I wish there had been more time."

"At least let me drop you at the station?"

That she could agree to, so she nodded. "Take me somewhere first?" she asked.

"Where?"

She smiled. "Your favorite place in the city?"

He smiled back, and hugged her tight. "For you, anything"

* * *

She stood high above everything else, pressing her hand to the glass of the elevator as the world rushed past.

"It's amazing, isn't it?" he said, looking as transfixed by the city as she was.

"Yes. So beautiful." Her voice almost broke, and he put his hand in the small of her back.

"So are you," he aimed the compliment, trying to catch her eye. But she was far off in the distance.

"Chuck, when I go home, this will all die out, like sand through the hourglass, it has a timelimit. I think ours might be up," she said, turning to him. "Or, almost up."

She pulled him to her, softly, gently. Her back was pressed against the thick glass, his hands tangling in her hair as he pressed his body against her. Blood rushed in every direction, both of them in a state where control was the last thing on their mind. Chuck reached back and hit the stop button, almost at the top of the building.

She pulled her shirt over her head, and he couldn't but stare at her.

"Are you sure?"

"Won't be my first time," she said, pulling him into another kiss that made their minds go around and round a rollercoaster.

His hands found the straps of her bra, her hands undoing his pants as fast as she could. The clothes came off a lot faster than they had come on, and soon the two were wrapped in each other, clinging to a moment of pure bliss as they reached for yet another one. Chuck let out a slow groan, kissing her neck, her small moans driving him nuts as he did all in his power to please.

It was too much. It was too perfect. And after another race to extacy, they both collapsed on the floor of the elevator, looking out over the city through the glass, seeing a world of lights and dark shadows.

"We should get dressed," she said softly, pressing a kiss to his collarbone.

"Yes." He kissed her again, and then it was time to move on. They let the elevator go back down, getting into the car, giddy as school children. They kissed, and snuggled and couldn't keep their hands off each other all the way to the train station.

"You didn't want to say goodbye to Jenny and the others?" he asked, out of the blue, as they got to the station.

She shook her head. "I already did."

"I'll miss you, little miss brutally honest."

"Oh please, my honesty was good for you people! You're all nuts, and you needed a reality check."

He kissed her, handing her her jacket as she was about to leave him, the car and New York. "So you won't miss me?" he asked, feeling a little to insecure about the answer.

"Just because this turn of the hourglass is up, Bass, doesn't mean it won't turn in our favor again."

"Is that an 'I'll miss you', in Katie-speak?"

She laughed. "Katie-speak?" Then she nodded. "I'll miss you, fishy. But I won't call. I won't write. We'll see what happens."

"As long as you'll miss me," he said sweetly and then finally let the girl from Hudson go.

* * *

She sat down on the train and closed her eyes, trying to fight the tears. And the fears. What if she never got to see Chuck again? What if Jenny couldn't handle being left alone after all? What was it her brother sounded so off about? And why hadn't her mother or father called her the entire time she'd been in New York and asked to see her? She was choking back the tears as the train started to move. She hoped Chuck would be out there.

He wasn't.

No one was.

She was all alone.

Again.


	9. Chapter 9

**Brutal Honesty**

_Chapter 9. Take care, big brother_

When Harry had enlisted, Katie had been the only one who'd been happy for him. She closed the door to the house with that thought in her head. She had been the only one in her family who had taken his news well. She was the only one who he kept in touch with.

She felt sore. Her body was tired and her mind was worn out. Her eyes felt raw from crying in the train's bathroom, and wiping at them with the coarse paper.

She still hadn't heard a word from anyone.

It had been so, so many hours, and she was so tired and now she was getting angry too. Chuck hadn't even sent a text to see if she'd gotten on the train properly. Jenny hadn't called her to see if she was okay. She had known she would have Chuck drive her. Was it so hard to check in?

No, it would be one simple call. What could possibly be more important?

* * *

"Dad!" Jenny bounced up when she saw her father come through the door. "I'm going to need a huge favor," she said with big puppy-dog eyes that her father just couldn't resist. Could he?

"What now, Jenny?" Rufus asked, more tired than anything else.

"I- I kinda need to go to Norway."

His jaw dropped and he couldn't get it shut again.

* * *

"I think I finally lost him," Blair said in a sad and weak voice.

"Who?" Serena asked, looking up from her magazine.

"Chuck," Blair snapped back. "Who else?"

Serena rolled her eyes. "I thought you said you were over him."

"Do not condesend me, I know what I said. It _was_ just sex. But-"

"But?"

Blair swallowed. "I don't like him moving on."

"Deal with it," Serena said, leafing through her magazine.

* * *

Nick yawned and stretched, looking around the room. He hated waking up and feeling like he'd forgotten something. And today was one of those days. His mind passed the question "what time is it" to ignoring whatever it might be. He felt the cold floor against his way too warm feet and shivered, walking towards the door.

"Nick?" a voice called.

"Up here," he said drowsily. Up the stairs came a bouncing brunette he recognized.

"I thought you and Jen weren't gonna come home until tomorrow?" he said, still drowsy.

"Harry's on his way home."

And now he was awake. "Why?"

"He didn't say."

Nick took a deep breath, touching Katie's shoulder. "It'll be okay. Whatever this means, it'll be okay."

"Promise?" she said, half joking. He knew that look in her eye. He'd known her for ever.

"Yes."

"Okay." She turned and bounced back down the stairs. "My house, noon," she said simply, before going out the front door, not even turning to look at him as she said it.

"So, it's not even noon yet," he mumbled to himself and finally realized it was time to go see what time it was.

11 am. Urgh...

* * *

"Norway?" Rufus questioned.

"I need to talk to Nate"

Lily looked confused. "Why is Nate in Norway?"

"Because of me," Jenny said, both sets of fingertips hitting her chestbone like an arrow, a thud sounding softly.

"What? Hold on," Rufus said, putting up a hand. "What do you have to do with this?"

"He told me he loved me," she said hurriedly. "And I turned him away."

"What?" Eric jumped form his seat opposite where Jenny had been sitting.

"And I have to go after him, I can't- He can't live in norway!"

Confusion seemed to be the general feeling in the room at that very moment.

* * *

Blair was greeted at the door by a Bass with a bouqet.

"I'm sorry for pushing you away," he said, handing her he pionees.

She crossed her arms and glared at him. "Really?" ashe asked, arching a well plucked eyebrow.

"Yes," he smiled.

"Well," she reached for the flowers. "You might as well come in, since you're here."

He smiled, and undid the buttons in his jacket as he stepped into the living room.

* * *

Harry sat down on the steps to the house he had left Katie when he enlisted. Everything he had ever had was in that house, along with that, the only sister he had left. He'd rung the doorbell, looked for the spare key, but so far his luck of getting inside was slim. He was early though, so that might be why.

His car pulled into the driveway and he saw the eager smile of Katie greet him as he looked up.

"Harry!" she shouted as she came running towards him. He put the letter she had written him on the steps and stood up to catch her as she flung herself up into his arms.

"Hey Kait!" he laughed, holding her tight. It had been too long...

"You're back, you're back, you're home," she repeated, like she didn't quite believe it.

"Yes, I'm home," he said, his voice soft and if Katie had been able to see his face, she knew she would have read the sadness there for something else.

* * *

When Dan saw the message his father had left him, he hurried over to the apartment to find Jenny packing a bag to go to Norway.

"Where do you think you are going?" he shouted at her.

She smiled sweetly. "I'm going to get my man back home."

Dan blinked at her, not knowing what she was saying. He shook his head and closed his eyes, pinching the ridge of his nose before he looked at her again. "Norway? Your man? Nate left because of you Jenny!" he said, desperate to get some sense into her.

"So it's only reasonable that I get him to come back home!" she chirped.

"Oh-kay..."

He was out of ideas already, which was bad.

This was a very, very bad idea.

* * *

Nate knew it had been a dumb idea. He knew he should have been more careful. He knew the Gossip Girl blast would have New York in an uproar – most of all Serena and Blair who couldn't stand change.

Chuck would have laughed, he was sure of it. After all, Chuck had taken off when he and Blair broke it off. At least they had had something to break off. He looked at the brochure in his hands and felt the confidence overwhelm him.

He'd be a skii-instructor, live in cottage and not be Nate Archibald anymore. Just Nate.

Finally he was free of his old chains.

* * *

Chuck slid the strap of her bra off her shoulder, kissing the skin gently and far too sweetly. Blair pushed him off and looked at him. "What is the matter with you?" she said, sounding irritated.

"I-" He had no real excuse. "Wanted to take it slow for once. We've made so many mistakes Blair."

"Mm, you've made so many mistakes," she said bitterly.

He decided to shut her up, ripped the bra off of her and threw her on the bed. It was the only way he knew to shut Blair Waldorf up. A good fuck.

* * *

Katie sat down on one side of the kitchen table and Harry on the other, looking at each other.

"Why are you home?" she asked, not too sure how to phrase it without it suonding wrong.

"I-"

The doorbell rang.

"Katie?" Harry got up at the sound of Nick's voice and went to open the door. The men stared at each other for a long moment. And then Nick's eyes were slightly filled with tears, Harry had a silly smile on his face and for a split second Katie didn't know if they were going to start throwing punches or...

Luckily it was the "or..." that won, when Harry put two hands on either side of Nick's face and kissed him until Nick gave in and wrapped his arms around him, returning the kiss with the same eagerness.

Good thing the army had the "Don't ask, don't tell policy."


	10. Chapter 10

**Okay, you guys - thank you for all your faves and alerts; it really makes me feel the love! **

**This chapter is a little backstory, just to make some parts make better sense. And I'll post another chapter ASAP, just because this is mostly... filler. But hopefully fun-filler.**

**So, enjoy!**

**

* * *

**

**Brutal Honesty**

_Chapter 10. The story of us_

Nick and Harry had met in the hospital. It had been about the same time his sister came to live with Nick after having left her life and family in New York. Nick had hated her for doing that to her kids, until something changed: one day they had gotten in a man who said he didn't know what was wrong with him. Nick was in his first year residency and Harry was in his last year of college. It all seemed very timely. Until Harry's girlfriend at the time had showed up crying and asking if he was going to live or if it was going to be one of those Grey's anatomy episodes where they didn't figure it out until it was all too late...

Nick had stayed with Harry, talking to him as he examined him, noting the very good shape he was in, and that's when Harry said it.

The first thing that changed the world Nick lived in.

"She doesn't know I swing the other way yet, maybe that's what's making me cry like a little baby?"

It had been so out of the blue, Nick had just stopped what he was doing and stared at Harry. Harry had laughed, before throwing up from the intense pain in his stomach.

Three months later, Nick and Harry had become good friends. And Harry had confided in Nick that he was finally going to tell Chelsea. Nick waited by the phone all night, to find out how it had gone. But Harry hadn't called.

A week went by, and not a word had been heard from Harry. Nick was getting worried, so he decided to swing by his house. He didn't find Harry, but he did find Harry's sister, Katilin. She told him Harry had left for New York, to talk to their parents. And then she said the second thing that would change Nick's world.

"Are you Nick? Harry talks about you all the time. I think he's in love with you, he just doesn't know it yet."

Nick had stayed with Katie, since she confessed to being a little scared of being in the house all alone with her sister, whom apparently wasn't in the best of conditions.

Then, two years back, Harry had decided he wanted to do something different. He didn't want to be a teacher after all. He wanted to be in the army. He'd enlisted without telling Nick. After being together for two years, Nick and Harry broke up over that silly little thing. Not that Harry wanted to risk his life every day by being in the army.

It had been much stupider.

Because Harry hadn't told Nick before he did it. And it had been a dumb and juvenile reason. Nick had loved Harry for all those years, wondering if he was okay. He'd looked in on Katie from time to time, making sure she was okay. It had formed a beautiful friendship. And now Harry was back. And there wasn't a bone in Nick's body that wanted to fight with him, ever again.

* * *

Nate had been six years old the first time he stood on a pair of skiis. He had been with his family in Vail during some holiday or other, and his father had decided it was time he learned how to skii. Nate had been scared out of his mind when he got on the lift, the first day after all the lessons, when it was time to skii all alone. He had jumped off the lift at the top, his father along side him, encouraging him to jump.

He had never wanted to skii down the big slope. But his father wanted him to be an over achiever, so that's what he got. An over achieving son who fractured one of the bones in his right leg as he took a bad tumble down the horrible part of the slope. But Nate had been out there the next day, trying to make his father proud.

Every year up until his fourteenth birthday, Nate and his family had gone to Vail to skii. And Nate had always tried to out-do himself. But when his fifteenth year came around, skiing was put off. His father had too much to do. And so it went on. He had to go alone, if he wanted to skii.

So once, not too long ago, he had finally decided to go skiing again. And that's when he had realized how much he missed it, and how good he really was at it.

Now, standing in line for the lift somewhere in the norweigan mountains, looking at all the snow and the skiiers, something in Nate just clicked.

* * *

There had been something in the air the day Dan Humphrey first saw Serena van der Woodsen. It had been something new and exciting and to him she had been the most beautiful girl in all the world.

She simple passed him on the street one day and he couldn't stop thinking about her.

Then fate stepped in, and suddenly he was dating the gorgeous blond he had once thought would never see him. He got to kiss her and hold her and it had been like a dream. It had been like a dream all the way up until the day when it hadn't been anymore. When the dream turned into a nightmare.

For Dan, breaking up with Serena had been the worst moment of his life – until he find out the son Georgina had told him was his, wasn't actually his.

Then suddenly Serena was a distant memory that held no such pain as the new one in his heart. But she stepped back into his life, and he couldn't help it. The words "moth to a flame" seemed to be accurate in the case of Dan Humphrey. After everything he had gone through, there he was now, waiting for Serena, waiting for her to tell him he was the one she had chosen.

* * *

Some nights had been like a small piece of forever for Blair; lying in bed alone was her worst nightmare after her break-up with Chuck and those nights seemed never ending half the time. Paris was her favorite place, apart from New York, and she loved being back in Paris, walking down the streets she adored, seeing the people, smalling the freshly baked bread and even seeing people fall in love under the summer sun had been a great distraction.

The moment she had seen Chuck there, in the midst of Paris, with his cain and his hair tussled and he looked nothing like the Chuck Bass she remembered – and it stung so bad she had barely been able to tear her eyes from him. Yet she managed. He had looked as stunned to see her as she was to see him, but she didn't want to admit that to herself. Instead she claimed he had come to fight for her, to get her back.

But she'd been wrong.

Upon returning to New York Blair had learned what had happened and she had hid in her room, crying her heart out hoping he would never have to go through anything like that again. No wonder she had felt like a piece of her was dying, if he had really been that badly hurt. Finally she had managed to drive a wedge between and the french girl that had saved him, she had fled from New York and an angry Bass had awoken. To that, she was both thrilled and scared. Seeing Chuck back in his ruthless patterns, was refreshing. Seeing him in his ruthless patterns out to destroy her, made her knees weak with fear.

Thought she would never admit it to anyone. Least of all herself.

So when Katie had blown into town, Blair had been sure Chuck would stand by her side in the fight against her and Jenny, taking them both down. But no. No he had turned on her again, not quite as ruthless as before, but he had sided with Nate and in that he had also been on a date with the horrid girl! Nothing would have Blair more in a fit of anger than Chuck turning his loyalties against her. But now, looking at him, remembering the first time he had told her he loved her, their first kiss, her first time, everything that had happened between them had led up to that single point in time. And despite Katie and her Hudson-honesty, Chuck was here, in her house, with her, lying on her bed, naked with the sheets tangled around him.

Blair knew Chuck had chosen her, yet again, over any other girl. Only this time she wasn't so sure there was ever going to be a forever between her and Chuck.

* * *

Katie, two years younger and two years more innocent, had met Danny right after her brother had left for Iraq. She had been young, innocent, tired and vulnerable as well as more brutal than normal in her honesty. When she met the young english man, she first of all pointed out how ridiculous his accent was. He just laughed at her and told her he couldn't help it, but he would have if he could have.

They had met in line for a coffeeshop during one of the off-chance weekends Katie actually spent with her parents. In tabloids she was always assumed to be some random woman in the vicinity of the famous people, or another assistent for the day. Katie had never minded this, she had never even minded being called "daughter of the help" because it meant she was safe. But meeting Danny in the line that day made everything harder. She could no longer lie about why she was in New York, or with whom. That night they had their first date – dinner with her parents.

Her whole relationship with Danny had been zero to a hundred in no time at all, and she had found herself missing him more and more each minute the first couple of weeks they were apart. So he started coming up to Hudson when he could, stayed in the guestroom when he had days off and she loved not being alone. She loved the way he talked to her, like she mattered, and how he always made her feel smarter than she was.

Honest, yes. Ph. D? Not likely.

One weekend Katie had gone to New York to see him at school, and had been blown away by the crazy world some people seemed to live in. She heard about Gossip Girl, about what a 'blast' was and Danny had told her all about the vain elite of Manhattan's Upper East Side. She had sworn to him to never become anything like them, even if she had the means to be.

On a crazy rainy night, she and Danny and ducked into a little restaurant. In a corner she had seen a man she knew her father knew well, he was a Bass, she remembered. Which one, she couldn't say, since there were two of the older generation after all. One of them had been in business with her father only a year back, but something had gone wrong. Neither of the men had lost money, which in itself had been a miracle.

But that night, Katie sat down and watched and older Bass talk to a young man, who had his eyes at the table, his posture was frozen in place and Katie felt for him as she watched his shame. Then Danny had leaned in "That's Chuck Bass," he said pointing at the younger of the two men.

"But he looks so..."

"Innocent," Danny had filled in, and Katie had nodded.

When Jenny had told Katie all about her and the Upper East Side, as well as the affair with Chuck, Katie had felt a familiar empathy – the same feeling she had had for Chuck in that restaurant she now directed at the young vulnerable girl that had managed to leave it all behind. Katie wasn't so sure she should have left Chuck and Jenny in the claws of Manhattan. On the other hand, being in her own bed listening to Harry and Nick talking about their issues downstairs, might be the better choice.

Still. Katie wasn't sure, so she picked up her phone, and dialed the number she knew would lead her to the phone of one miss Jennifer Humphrey.


	11. Chapter 11

**I apologize for previous chapters, I'm usually a slavedriver when it comes to parting off the chapter so you can clearly follow who's the character of the moment. I just saw that my ** has disappeared in the formatting from .doc to uploaded, and I am so sorry if it's been an awkward read! But I am going to go back an fix it, and hope the coming chapters will be easier to read!**

* * *

Brutal Honesty

_Chapter 11. If you could see_

Jenny finally picked up her phone and laughed into it the first thing she did. "I'm going to Norway," she giggled and was greeted by a confused silence. "To get Nate to come home."

"I knew I shouldn't have left," Katie muttered.

"How's Harry?" Jenny asked, remembering the reason for Katie's sudden departure.

"He's tired, but good. Back together with Nick by the looks of it," she said with a smile. "How's Manhattan?"

"Big and scary without you and Nate," Jenny said in all honesty.

"Jen, are you sure going after him is a good idea?"

"Yup." This she was sure of. If she had ever been sure, this was it. But Jenny couldn't actually head Katie blink on the other end of the phone, so she laughed. "He told me he loved me," she told her.

"He did?"

"More or less," Jenny corrected herself.

"Wow."

"Yeah, I know."

"Well, good luck then, Jen."

Jenny narrowed her eyes and shook her head quickly. "Wait, what? You're not gonna argue?"

"Nope," Katie replied, popping the P. "If you want Nate, then you should go for it."

Jenny stared at the phone. "Who are you and what did you do to Katie?"

Katie laughed. "Do you know where in Norway he is?"

"Uhm…"

"Have fun!" Katie chirped, having put a hug dose of reality in Jenny's head and clearing up some issues with her supposed plan. She then hung up and decided it was time to go see Jenny's mom about New York.

* * *

"You're really going through with this?" Eric said from her doorway. Jenny nodded eagerly.

"I have to. I have no clue how to actually find Nate, but I have to."

He nodded in return and came in to help her pack. Which was code for sitting on the bag while she tried to get it shut.

* * *

"This is…" Chuck mumbled.

"Heaven?" Blair filled in and he smiled that gorgeous, warm smile of his. She kissed him softly, not even hesitating this time.

"Mm," he agreed, again with that smile. He was melting her as only he could.

"Does this mean, you and I are…?"

"We're a we again," he confirmed. "Officially."

"That's great," she said, flinging her arms around his neck in a passionate kiss. But still, Blair couldn't shake the feeling he wasn't all there.

* * *

"Katie!" she laughed, seeing the girl on her porch.

"Hey, Mrs Humphrey."

"How was New York?"

Katie sat down on the chair opposite of the one Jenny's mom sat down in and made a half-hearted shrug. "It was different. And I can see why Jenny was like she was when she got here. She is, actually, on her way to Norway right now. Chasing after the boy that broke her heart, because now, apparently, he loves her."

She blinked a few times and then said "Excuse me?"

"Jenny. I know she used to love New York, and in some ways I think she still does, she loves the idea of what New York has to offer, but she's so much better off here, and Norway, Nate, him finally 'fessing up to everything he feels, it's messing with her head. Again!"

"You said my little girl is going to Norway? Alone?"

"She didn't say. But I think Dan might be going, he _is _Nate's friend."

Katie looked at the mother in front of her, the wide eyes and the slight panic in her voice. She had never seen her mother like that. Not even when her sister had died…

"Look, I know Jenny. She won't do anything stupid without thinking about it, not anymore. She's different. I just hope Nate can see that, and not try to take all of her otherness and keep the hole in her chest from gaping too much."

"Does she- Uhm, does she love him too?"

"She has always loved Nathaniel Archibald. And I think," Katie said with a soft smile. "He's always loved her too. At least, that's what I'm hoping, since she's going off on this crazy adventure."

"I think I have to call her-" She got up.

"Quickly. I don't know when she leaves," Katie said, giving the confused woman a hug and then leaving her so she could call her daughter.

Katie however, was heading in the direction of the cemetery.

* * *

Dan picked up his phone and called Nate.

"The number you have dialed can not be reached-"

He hung up. And tried again. And again. And again.

Until he finally gave up.

"I'm going with her, if she's going," Dan demanded, his father nodding.

"I was about to suggest the same thing. You are Nate's friend after all."

"No!" she shouted.

"Why not?"

"Because, that little-" she paused then spat it out. "BITCH down there-"

"Watch it Serena," Lily snapped.

"She's going to Norway? To do what? Come between Nate and me even more? She's out of her mind! You can't let her go!"

"And here I was thinking you and Nate were history, in your own words."

Serena glared at her mother and then stomped out of there screaming "She's not going to get away with this!"

* * *

Katie placed a small, plastic sunflower on the grave and smiled. "Hey baby sister." Her eyes welled up as she reached out and touched the headstone. "Have I got a story for you…"


	12. Chapter 12

**Hey guys! Okay, since I had som serious issues with the internet (urgh!) I've been late with updating. I'm terribly sorry, and therefor you'll be - again - getting TWO chapters. :D**

**Anyway, as for this chapter... Don't hate me. **

**As usual, thank you for the love. Don't forget to R&R :)**

* * *

Brutal Honesty

_Chapter 12. Give me what I want_

He held the phone to his ear, message one finally over and done with. It had been Blair, yammering on and on about the ball he was about to throw. Boring.

"Message two, received, today, one oh four am" the mechanic voice told him and he glanced at the time. Seemed to be a pretty early time for anyone to call, even if he was up all night.

"It's me," she said, and he could almost hear the smile in her voice. "I know what I said, and this makes a liar out of me, but I need to talk to you. Something… Something has come up, and I think you might want to know." There was several seconds of a pause, but she hadn't hung up. He heard her sigh and then she hesitated some more. "I miss you," she said slowly, and then she hung up.

He pressed one, to replay the message.

"It's me," and he could still almost hear the smile in her voice. He imagined her brown eyes smiling at him this time, and felt his cold fingers go warm. "I know what I said, and this makes a liar out of me, but I need to talk to you." There was a slight waver in her voice, something he had been to deaf to hear the last time. Something was wrong. "Something… Something has come up, and I think you might want to know." Then, even thought she had faltered, there was a resolve he knew well in her. Whatever it was, his opinion didn't count, it was just out of consideration. "I miss you," she said, and the words sounded more like a whisper this time, almost like she didn't want to admit it to anyone, not herself, not her phone, most certainly not to him.

Chuck swallowed hard, glanced at his watch one more time, and the hit dial on the number currently displayed. Katie's number.

* * *

She grabbed thin air, fumbling for her phone.

"Yes?" she spat into the receiver and was greeted by an amused chuckle.

"Good morning to you too, sunshine," he said, and she froze in her not too comfortable position on the bed.

"Chuck?" She squinted, trying to make out what time it was on the digital alarm-clock at the other end of the room, the red numbers blurring together.

"Yes," he drawled, his voice burning into her. "Missed me did you?"

"I'm not sure I'm awake enough to play games right now," she yawned and then fell back into bed.

"You said you needed to tell me something."

She made a face in the dark; she had half hoped she'd dreamt calling him. "Yeah. Uhm," she stuttered. "Okay, look, there is nothing to worry about, but I guess… I'm late. It's perfectly normal, sometimes it just happens, but I thought you might want to know, since it's almost two weeks over time, and usually…" There was no sound on the other end. "Are you still alive over there?" she asked and felt a bit more than annoyed. "Chuck!" she snarled, when he still didn't answer.

"You might be-" he said, the question hanging in the air.

"Most probably not, but there is a tiny risk, and even though we were careful," she said, with a smile at the memory of how rough he had been. "There is always an offhand chance."

"Yeah…"

"Would you have preferred if I didn't tell you?" she asked slowly, almost shy and most certainly anxious for his answer.

"No, I would have preferred if you lived in New York, thought," he said, quite honestly. She was almost proud. Maybe she'd had a good effect on him?

"So… Now what?" she asked.

"Now, we wait?" he suggested and she could hear the smile sneak back into his voice.

"My plan exactly. So, call me later in the week?" she suggested and she heard him nodding, the phone rattling against his collar and face.

"I will."

"Talk to you later then," she chirped and right when she was about to hang up she paused, for the half second that was needed.

"I miss you too."

And then all that was left was the sound of dial-tone.

* * *

He drew a deep breath. Might be about to be a father. She wasn't old enough to be a mother. Not yet. She was… He missed her laugh, and he could just imagine how this had changed her way of being. He was afraid for her. And suddenly he knew how much he really cared about her, in a way he hadn't expected.

He hit re-dial and smiled when she muttered into the phone.

"Do you want to keep it, if there is a baby?"

"What?" she laughed.

"The baby, if there is one, will you keep it?"

And he heard a soft sob, then she mumbled "God damn it," under her breath, not meant for him. "No, Chuck, being a teenage mother is not apart of any plan I have. I'm sorry, but if there is a baby, then I guess there's one option and…"

He nodded, feeling a heavy stone on his chest. He knew he was too young, God help him, so was she, but the idea of having a baby with her, it was quite tempting. "That's fine, I just wanted to know. You know, in case." He bit down hard, his jaw clenching and his teeth hurting.

"I know," she said, sounding almost sad.

"Okay." And with that he hung up. He looked around the apartment and suddenly felt like trashing it completely, making sure he got himself thrown out and had to escape. Instead, he sunk down on the couch and muttered about how much he had to do, if he was ever going to get the effing party together.

* * *

Jenny swallowed back the tears as she saw the beautiful landscape beneath the plane. Norway. Figured her first time really going abroad would be to be with Nate. She smiled. Nate. Wonderful, sweet, loving Nate. She missed him, has missed him ever since she turned him away.

"Hey," Dan grunted, waking up. She smiled.

"Look." She pointed out and then turned to look at Dan, who's jaw now hung loose.

"Wow."

"Yeah," she said breathlessly.

As they landed and collected their bags, the only thing going through Jenny's head was 'How the hell am I going to find him?'

Dan caught a cab and then turned to her with an expecting look. "Where to?"

* * *

When Katie woke up two days after her conversation with Chuck, she still felt that lump in the back of her throat. Being with Chuck hadn't been her first time; she'd had a boyfriend who stayed with her for the better part of two years. So no, Chuck hadn't been her first time – like it had been Jenny's – but it had been the first time she had been so reckless, so thoughtless as to what might come after that one moment. It had been all heat, no long term thinking at all.

That morning, the shower seemed colder than normal, even though the steam rose all around her. But it was also there she realized she might not be as pregnant as she imagined, and that all was well. She got dressed in a hurry and ran downstairs to tell Nick – who had become a regular fixture by the breakfast table – and found Harry on the phone. Nick smiled and mouthed "Cora," and Katie sighed. It was just like her mother to call on a day when Katie finally was starting to feel right again.

"Of course not mom, hold on," Harry said and gave a good morning smile to his sister. "She wants to talk to you."

Katie put on a fake smile and said "Goodie," before taking the phone from her brother. "Hey mom."

"Please, do you have to call me that? I was just berating Harry for calling me mom, do you have too insist on-"

"Was there something you needed?" Katie cut her off, knowing her mother's liberal view and opinions of using the word 'mom', and ever since her sister had killed herself her mother had claimed she was unfit to be a mother and would instead always be called by her first name.

"Yes," her mother smiled, suddenly back to reality from her little speech. "You."

"What?" Katie couldn't help but keep the monotone disappointment out of her voice.

"There's this ball, Kait, and I want you to come with me since your father is out of town."

"But what about Harry?" she asked, glaring at him as he and Nick laughed at the table, drinking their coffee, eating their sandwiches.

"Oh honey, why won't you just say yes and come to New York? Last time you were here we didn't get to see each other, I think it would be a nice change of pace. And it's about time the world knew you were my daughter, and not just my… Assistant or whatever it was last time."

Katie's mouth was hanging open, and she was all set to try to say no, but given her mother's aptitude for being stubborn and Katie's aptitude for being honest, there was no way she was going to get out of this in one piece. "Very well, Cora," she said, emphasizing her mother's name. "When is this ball?"

"This weekend. Come to New York today. I have so much I want us to talk about."

"Okay. See you soon," she said, trying to sound light and breezy.

"See you soon honey."

"Bye."

"Bye," and then her mother hung up, while Katie stood there with the phone in her one hand, her other hand on her hip and her head tilted at Harry.

"You are pure evil," she told him calmly before hanging the phone back up on the unit. "Why, why are you doing this to me? I don't want to go to New York!" She slapped his shoulder as she passed him on her way to the coffeepot.

"Come on Kait, you know it would be good for you. Besides, you need to tell the guy-"

Nick cut himself off and Harry glared at him when Katie turned back around. "Oh cool it, there's no baby. And it's the last time I am being that thoughtless! I'm gonna go down to the," she swallowed. "Clinic, before I go to New York and get all set up. No more being careless. Danny was always so aware of that, Chuck didn't seem to have a single thought in his head about what happened after." She took a couple of deep gulps from her coffee and then her face flattened out. "This coffee is practically cold," she accused Harry, and he laughed again.

"There's a microwave right there," he said, pointing to the one sitting next to her on the counter.

She humphed and left the kitchen as Nick and Harry began talking again, this time concerning the plants in the front yard. That they even bothered, she thought going up the stairs. She hated packing, but she guesses it was a good time as any to go back.

She picked up her phone and dialed Jenny. No answer.

She should have figured.

* * *

Serena was in her bed, leafing through a magazine and sulking, when the Gossip Girl blast had her phone beeping. She reached over to her bed stand and swooped the phone up.

_Looks like little miss Honesty took a trip to the planned parenthood after her steamy ride with our favorite young millionaire – is there a baby Bass on the way? You know you love me, xoxo, Gossip Girl._

Serena let out a horrified laugh, and in the next room she suddenly heard a shriek. Seemed like Blair had caught sight of the blast too…

Blair stormed through Serena's door a second later, huffing out "Did you see this?" throwing her phone at Serena's bed. She nodded. "She needs to be destroyed!"

Serena smiled, an evil and already knowing smile. "I know just the thing."


	13. Chapter 13

**Brutal Honesty**

_Chapter 13. Trapdoors_

He threw the orange from one hand to the other and then back again, passing the time in the waiting-room. Nate was one of those people who could sit still for hours while playing video-games, well, he didn't really sit still then, but he had the patience for not moving most of the time.

Today, was certainly not one of those days. He was nervous. The job as a ski-instructor was something he needed and wanted and he would be damned if someone else came in a swooped the job up from under him. He looked at the dark haired guy that exited the office and offered him a cocky smile.

Fuck you, Nate thought and then smiled a small smile as the big red haired guy back out the door.

"Nate Humphrey?" he called, looking up from the papers he was holding.

He smiled, getting up from his seat, and giggled internally. It was still so weird being called Humphrey, but he knew he would be easier to track if he actually used his own name. Not that he was hiding, but he needed some time to settle before people came to try to drag him back.

"That's me," Nate said, walking confidently into the office for the interview of a lifetime.

He was more nervous for this job interview than he had been for anything before. Well, maybe he had been more nervous about telling Jenny he loved her, but he hadn't gotten those words out, so that didn't count. In his head, that just didn't count.

* * *

Imagine Katie's surprised when she found her big shot of a mom waiting for her at the train station, wearing sweats! She laughed and hugged her mother, before she handed her the bag in which she kept her laptop. Since Jenny was out of phone range, she would try sending her an e-mail later. She also needed to go online and see if there was any news on Chuck. Anything more than usual…

She suppressed her thoughts of Chuck and kept making small-talk with her mother. The weather, how Harry and Nick were doing, how Katie had been, how her mother's business was doing, where he father had jetted off to this time. Then, in a whirl of movement, someone was beside her, and it wasn't her mother.

"You bitch!" Blair screamed at her, giving her a slap that made her cheek burn and her eyes water.

"What the fu-" her mother said, looking at the strange brunette.

"What's going on here?" her driver interrupted and for once she was grateful for the manner of her mother's driver, Grey. He took a place beside Katie, between her and Cora as well as between Blair and Katie.

"She slept with my boyfriend!" Blair shrieked.

"Ex," Katie said. "Ex-boyfriend, Blair." And the idea that this wasn't a very Blair-esque way of handling things struck her. "And why are you here?"

"You're having his baby, you gold digging whore!" Blair spat and glared daggers in Katie's direction.

"What?" Cora exclaimed, looking at Katie in disbelief.

"I am not!" Katie countered, more to her mother than to Blair. But Blair didn't listen, instead she left, as Grey pushed past both Katie and Cora to stand in Blair's way.

"Kaitlin what is going on?" her mother whispered as they got in the car.

"I made a mistake and apparently now I have to pay," she said, in the cryptic way of the Upper East Siders, watching her mother's face turn into something that looked like a mask of horror. "Relax, I'm not one of them. I slept with Chuck Bass, and as you heard, we were a little thoughtless, so I had a good scare. I was so scared, but, turns out it was nothing."

"Oh, then honey this might not have been the best idea," Cora said, her forehead creasing.

"Why not?" Katie smiled. "I like spending time with you; we do it all too seldom."

"True enough, but Kait, the ball-"

"We're here," Grey announced from the driver's seat and Katie smiled.

"Come on, mom," she said playfully, nudging her shoulder. "We can talk later, let's just make sure I have a dress for the damn thing before you tell me all about it."

Cora smiled a weak smile, not even starting at Katie for having called her mom. She got out of the car after her daughter and had the sinking feeling only a mother could get. There was almost something ominous in the New York air. And just like that, the rain started falling.

* * *

"How'd it go?" Serena asked, bouncing out of the chair as she saw Blair.

"Perfect, her mother looked like someone had dropped a ton of bricks on her."

"I think this will be a ball we'll never forget," Serena said and smiled again, her wickedest smile that had even Blair feeling a little uneasy.

"Chuck is going to be furious," Blair said, shaking her head. And in that same moment, the blast made their phones beep.

Baby drama at the train station? Looks like the queen B might be dethroned if the Hudson girl is carrying an heir. Ouch, that slap had to hurt! You know you love me, xoxo, Gossip Girl

"Perfect," Serena purred and smiled.

* * *

Chuck stared at his phone. He had been staring at it for the better part of half an hour. He didn't believe it. He couldn't really see straight either. All he saw was Blair slapping Katie. Katie - who was supposed to be in Hudson.

What the hell was going on?

* * *

"Thank you so much for this opportunity, I promise I'll-"

The red haired man, named Jakkob, smiled at Nate and shook his hand. "Just don't be late for work, it's hard being the one to teach all these lonely housewives and theirs kids to ski while daddy's off enjoying a beer," he laughed.

Nate laughed with him, not quite getting what he was saying due to his accent but understood most of it nonetheless.

"Tomorrow, 8 am," he smiled.

"See you on the slopes," the man said and with that Nate left.

He was already feeling better. And he was not – NOT – thinking about Jenny. At all!

* * *

Vanessa exhaled loudly, looking at Juliet. "This will never work without Jenny on board," she said and shook her head.

"Don't be such a downer," Juliet answered, almost glaring at her. "Of course this will work, Jenny set it up, just because she isn't here doesn't mean it won't work."

"Okay, if you say so," Vanessa said, getting up from the bed, grabbing her purse and heading for the door. As she was about to twist the knob Juliet interrupted her.

"Where are you going?"

"To make it look like I have plans for the night of the Empire's ball, maybe you should do that same." She closed the door a little too hard behind her.

* * *

Katie unpacked slowly, not lifting her eyes from her computer, staring at the screen. Yeah, the slap had hurt. But who had been around to rapport to Gossip Girl in a secluded street…? She couldn't wrap her head around this world, all this gossip.

"Kait?" her mother asked, knocking on the door before sliding it open. "Are you okay?"

"No." She clicked her tongue and closed her laptop, shaking her head. "I get why you kept us away from New York, from this world. It's corrupt and it's like poison, the wrong kind that draws you back in, over and over." She pinched the skin between her eyes and closed them hard, a gesture that she in that moment realized she had inherited from Chuck. She almost smiled at herself.

"It is poison. But it's also charming, and fun, and most of all Kaitlin," her mother touched her arms. "There's a lot to love, not just hate."

"I wish I could believe that, mom, but-"

"Chuck Bass is not the end of you, Kait," her mother laughed. "Though he has been the end of more innocent women than you, I really hope you think things through before you go out. My assistants told me that you are making a Gossip Girl success, everyone loves to hate you already."

"Great," Katie said, her voice dripping with detest. "Just what I need. People interfering."

"Three days to go, Katie, try to not drown."

She looked at her mother as she left the room and once the door was closed she muttered "Great advice as always mother, 'try not to drown' – what the hell is that supposed to mean?"

* * *

"What are you doing here?" he hissed and she spun around, her eyes wide.

"What the hell," she breathed, putting a hand over her hard beating heart. "What do you mean? I'm just as much allowed to be here-"

"In New York," he said, and Katie finally got it.

"Did you have me followed?" she asked, her eyes narrowing.

"Don't change the subject, Katie."

"Fuck you Chuck-"

"Haven't you already been there?" the guy behind the counter asked her as he handed her the coffee. She gaped at him.

"Really? How very professional of you," she replied before turning back to Chuck and smiling at him. "My mother asked me to come, not that it is any of your business, not really."

"Despite everything, you're going to tell me, it's none of my business where you go?" He scoffed and shook his head. "Unbelievable. Enjoy your stay, hope everything turns out well. Don't come crawling to me, ever."

Katie blinked before touching his arm. "Don't go away angry," she said softly. "It's hard on me, you know. My whole future turned upside down! And then you ask me, all serious, if I want to be a mother…" She shook her head, a tear escaping down her cheek but she'd dried it off before there was a chance for anyone in the coffee shop to get a picture. "Your life is ridiculous, Chuck." She looked around the room, all eyes on them. "I don't want to be in the public eye. My mother and father have tried very hard to keep me away from it, and I will keep trying once they no longer want to. I hope you realize I have no desire to be in this world." He stood silent, but his eyes told her everything she needed from him. Again, she touched his arm, and smiled at him. "It was nice to see you."

And then she left, with some kind of pain starting to build in her chest. That's new, she thought while she sipped her coffee and strolled down the street.


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N:** Hey guys! So, here's the last couple of chapters. For me this story has been such a trip you wouldn't even believe it. And it's actually taken me through some dark times in my own life and I dunno, maybe you can tell at times, but I hope not. Thank you all for being so wonderful and reading and still putting me on alerts, I love it and you and just thank you so much.

**

* * *

**

Brutal Honesty

_Chapter 14. Seeing is not believing_

"Jenny?"

She laughed on the other end of the phone. "I've missed your voice."

"What are you…?"

"I just wanted to ask you were you are."

"Why?"

"Because I am at the airport in Oslo, and I thought I'd like to see your before I go back to New York, in a week…"

Nate's turn to laugh, and he could barely believe this. He wasn't too sure if he was dreaming or what. "You're here?"

"I am."

He swallowed hard, feeling his mouth go dry. "Why?"

"I am not going to tell you over the phone," she said teasingly, almost laughing. The knot in his stomach dissolved. Nothing bad had happened. "I just want to see you Nate. Please?"

"Of course, I'll text you my address and Jenny…?"

"Yeah, baby?"

His heart beat an extra and harder beat. "I missed you too."

"Those words? Are heaven."

* * *

There had to be a way to get him to be hers and only hers, again, this time for ever and for always. Blair paced her room, her phone in her hand and the picture of Katie and Chuck looking lovingly at each other in some coffee shop burning into the back of her eyelids. She would never again be able to close her eyes and not see them looking so loving. She hated her. Blair hated Katie and she would pay for going after Chuck. One way or another.

* * *

Cora looked around the room, her eyes searching for some form of scissors.

"Oh for crying out loud," she said loudly.

"What?" Katie chuckled, her mug of coffee in one hands. "Lost the scissors again?"

"Some daughter you are," Cora muttered and got on her knees in her new Dolce outfit. Katie couldn't help but laugh.

"You're gonna ruin the Dolce, mom!" she pointed out and then took the scissors that were beside her on the side table and dangled them at about eyelevel for Cora.

Cora huffed, getting up, straightening out her outfit and herself. "And you couldn't have told me sooner?" she asked huffily.

"I didn't see them until this second. You need to hang them around your neck in a ribbon," Katie pointed out, handing her mother the green handled scissors before looking over the table of fabric. "This is gorgeous."

"I see Jenny has finally rubbed off on you," Cora smiled.

"Maybe so," she smiled back and took another deep sip from her mug. "I just wish I knew how to do anything but maths."

"Don't do that – you graduated early and I am so proud of my little maths genius!" Cora pinched her cheek and Katie squeaked at the pain.

"I've been thinking about going back, I need something to do all day. I can't get a solid job around Hudson anyway…"

"Can you do that?" Cora asked, looking at the fabric as she cut it.

"I dunno, probably not, but I want to."

"Why not come stay with me and your father here? We have enough space for you too," she smiled softly, looking up from her pattern.

"I don't want to live in New York," Katie said.

"Is this because of Chuck Bass?" Cora asked. "Or is it because of Blair Waldorf?"

"You know her?"

Cora looked up, laughing, as she put the scissors down. "I know her mother, we are in the same business after all. Friendly competition and what have you." She looked at Katie, the soft lines under her eyes and the slightly red splotches by the corners of her eyes. "What happened Kait? Why did Blair say you were having Chuck's baby?"

Katie exhaled and sat down on the chair on the other side of the table, watching her mother work. "You guys know I came here with Jenny, a while back, and I met Chuck then. I was so brutally honest and he barely flinched at me, unlike all of the others who thought I was nuts – Blair did not like what I had to tell her!" She smiled. "Anyway, I agreed to go out with Chuck and I saw this whole other side of him." She thought about it, about the way he smiled like he was a kid again, about his eyes glittering.

"And," Cora said, trying to get the story moving.

"And it was amazing. But, well, Danny – I felt so guilty, so I called him and we broke up. He said something about avoiding Hudson for a bit, and I get it, I just wish we could have been friends still after all this. I guess that's a dead end though…"

"What about Chuck and you, Kait?"

"Right, Chuck. Uhm, that was… Harry called me, told me he was coming home, and that I needed to get my ass home ASAP, so I did. Chuck dropped me off at the station, but not before us taking a trip to what was supposed to be his favorite place in New York. We didn't make it all the way up, before we stopped the elevator and well…"

Cora smiled. "Was he any good?"

"Dear God, yes. Way better than Danny ever was," Katie laughed. "Anyway, it was all spur of the moment and-"

"Kaitlin Marie Corrigan, do not tell me you had unprotected sex with the biggest playboy of the Upper East Side?" Cora almost shouted at her daughter and Katie, for once in her life, got speechless.

After a breath or two, Cora was able to think again; but her eyes never left her daughter's blushing face. "What were you thinking, Kait?"

"Who said I was thinking anything? It was so-" She closed her eyes and smiled. "Reckless, thoughtless, completely insanely passionate and, mom, if you have ever felt like that with dad…"

"Yes, and I have three children and a wedding ring to show for it!"

"Mom! I cannot believe you are being this conservative about it, it wasn't the end of the world!"

"No, but it could have been the end of your teenage years, Kaitlin."

"Almost adult girl, right here; I am not a 16 year old anymore," Katie said, feeling more than a little exasperated. "Harry and Nick said it wouldn't be an issue even if it turned out I was pregnant-"

"They're really back together?" Cora asked hopefully, and Katie smiled.

"If the noises from Harry's bedroom are any kind of indication, as well as Nick by the breakfast table every morning," she said with a wag of her eyebrows.

"That's so great," Cora said, finished the cutting for the skirt of the dress. "Okay," she mumbled, and tossed the fabric around, putting down the pattern with great precision.

"But anyway, no baby, no worries, no Chuck. Only Blair-anger at the moment."

Cora nodded. "Yes well, they have been an on and off again thing for years, Katie, I wouldn't expect him to turn his back on her anytime soon. I want you to be safe…"

"I'm safe mom, I have even been tested, and I'm clean as a whistle. Whatever that means, because whistles have to get icky on the inside at some point…"

Cora laughed.

* * *

"Jenny, stop," Dan said, catching her arm before she rushed through the door of the building they were standing in front of. "Are you sure about this?"

"Which part?" She was smiling; this brilliant and childlike smile that he was sure he hadn't seen on her face since before, before all of this… He felt another pang of regret; he had been so sure things would change for them once they got into the world Jenny craved – he'd been right and wrong at the same time. He had so hoped Jenny would be her old self and still belong. Well, he'd thought the same about himself, and lately he'd proved just how unlike himself he could really be.

"All of it." He took a breath. "Cos you know, we can get back in the cab and turn right around, go back to New York and pretend this never happened…"

"I can't do that. I need to tell him!" Her eyes shone, the sun glittering in them and all there was left for him to do, was let go; of her arm, of trying to be the overbearing brother, of protecting her, of the things he held on to, of Serena, of the Upper East Side. So when he let go of Jenny's arm, he felt himself let go of all the things that were messing with his head at the same time.

Watching her enter the building where Nate waited for her, he felt as if though he was thinking clearly for the first time in a long time. Maybe Nate and Jenny had the right ideas, maybe leaving New York was the only way to figure it all out.

* * *

Despite knowing he would burn up the minutes and the money he had left on his phone, he got it out of his pocket and called his mother, to ask her if he could come live with her in Hudson.

* * *

When she walked through the door, Nate's breathed caught in his throat. He hadn't know just how much he had missed her. Jenny flashed through his mind; looking at her un made up face and her loose hair he saw the girl he had met years before when she started at Constance – all innocence and love. Jenny walking down the street with Dan, Jenny laughing, Jenny crying, kissing Jenny at the ball when he thought she was Serena to every moment that had led her right into the foyer they were in now. He'd always known, so why had he been so adamant on not admitting it to himself?

She smiled and finally saw him. She ran, her hair flying around her, the light hitting her and she looked… She looked like an angel, which for Jenny, was a non-descriptive word up until that moment. He caught her, wrapped his arms around her and they laughed before meeting in a kiss that made him want to take her up to his room and never let her out of there again.

Finally, he sat her down, her flat shoes – did she ever wear anything but heels in New York? – settled her on the floor and he looked at her. He couldn't help himself but pull her to him again, kissing her softly, hesitantly. Only to have the kiss reciprocated with fervor.

She leaned against him, her chin resting on his shoulder when she whispered "I love you, Nate."

That all but knocked him flat on his back.


	15. Chapter 15

_Chapter 15. __Choices, choices_

_

* * *

_

On the upper East Side the possibilities are endless; Dom or Krug, Winston or Cartier, Tory or Stella. Eventually even the people with everything have to choose.

* * *

"Really?" Serena made a short pause. "You seriously expect me to make this monumental decision with colored pencils and graph paper?"

Eric began talking, but Serena's head was already elsewhere. Her mind raced a mile a minute: Nate was gone, so why did this decision still matter so much to her? It was as if he had already made the choice for her, but still, she wanted to tell him and Dan, once and for all, who she really wanted. Who she, against all odds, needed.

Eric and Elliot, Eric's boyfriend, kept talking about math and charts and how dating sites did the same thing.

Maybe it would be worth a shot…?

* * *

She leaned in over his shoulder, one hand on his back and the other adjusting his tie.

"There's nothing like a friendly benefit to start the day of meetings to get the Empire back on top."

"You do thrive in that position," Blair cooed. "I'm sure your black and white ball for the hotel association will remind everyone of that."

"And with your new glow, Anne Archibald will beg you to be the new face of her new foundation." He looked at the pleased look on her face in the mirror they were both facing, one of her small hands stroking the hair out of her face.

He knew she kept talking, he knew he should listen. But he couldn't get the look on Katie's face out of his mind, when she destroyed the last of the hope he had for the two of them to figure things out.

"_Your life is ridiculous, Chuck. I don't want to be in the public eye. I hope you realize I have no desire to be in this world." _

He finally responded to Blair, offered her something way beyond stupid: A dinner tonight, before the black and white ball. He let out a breath as he left Blair's room, rapidly making his way outside.

He was late for a meeting with Casey.

* * *

"Are you sure about this?" Vanessa asked.

"Positive," she replied, looking at the plan at her wall, knowing she could pull it off. All they had to do was to go get the dress – which was almost done. "Serena is going to pay."

* * *

"I hate wearing dresses," Katie complained, but then threw another look in the mirror. "But this might change my mind," she laughed and Cora laughed with her.

"You look stunning."

Katie blushed and looked into the mirror again. Chuck would really have loved the dress. Maybe. Probably. Most certainly.

Why was she even bothering thinking about him? She was berating herself for thinking about him, having firmly placed him in her past, when her mother called her name for possibly the third time.

"Earth to Kait, are you okay? You look a little pale."

"Oh, uhm, sure. Fine." She looked down, suddenly in a more panicked state than before. "Can I take this off now? It's a little hot in here, and I can't really breathe…"

"Sure honey, go ahead."

* * *

"So I took your advice on the re-launch." His publicist, Casey, followed him out of the elevator as it dinged and they came right into his apartment. "After tonight we'll be clear and back in the game with Victrola and Gimlit and with the Empire and my flagship."

"Yeah, but a black and white ball?" Casey eyes him, letting out a little scoffing sound that wasn't quite a scoff. "It's so Hilton." She looked at the paper in her hand and the back at Chuck. "Conrad, not Paris."

"I'll take you insult as flattering," he said, circling around the counter that acted as a bar, with Casey on the other side.

"Well don't. People aren't checking into the Empire for the black-tie experience. They come to live like Chuck Bass," she said, emphasizing her word by shaking her folder at him. "No rules, no repercussions."

"They still can," he said, narrowing his eyes at her while he poured himself a drink. "The hotel is the same as ever."

"But you aren't." She came up to him, leaning against the other side of the counter, her eyes locked on his. "With the baby and the wholesome Hudson girl, Chuck, you seriously damaged your brand." She paused. "And the hotel has paid the price."

"So what do you suggest?" he asked, taking a sip from his glass.

"If you want to rebuild," Casey started. "You need to commit to being the hedonist everyone loves to hate." She smiled. "Nobody wants a soft-hearted has-been who's worried about dating Blair Waldorf."

Blair. It all came down to Blair. They were not quite officially together, though they had agreed they would be. But something seemed to be stopping them. They never left the house to go out, never hung out with their friends together. It was all very hush-hush. And so far, Chuck hadn't minded.

Until Katie had shown up and turned him down when he approached her. The only reason he wasn't out there living the life, was because of her. He looked away, avoiding Casey's penetrating eyes as he contemplated the idea of him and Katie. They could have been a dynamic duo. If she had wanted to be in his world. But she'd made it abundantly clear; she didn't.

"Trust me," he said. "A relationship with Blair is the furthest thing from my mind." And he sealed the words with another sip from his whiskey.

* * *

In a totally different time-zone Jenny was getting ready for bed when someone knocked on her door.

With her brother safely tucked away in a different hotel room and asleep for the last two hours, she was pretty sure it was either the hotel manager or someone she had longed to see again.

"Jen?" he asked, his voice hushed from the other side. She smiled widely and bounced to the door, opening it with the same huge smile on her face.

"Nate, I thought it might be the manager or something…"

"Just me," he smiled. "Look, I have an early morning tomorrow, but I just, I wanted to-" He swallowed hard and she smiled at him again, since his smile was shutting off all the capacity she had to think.

"Wanna come in anyway? For a minute?"

"Why not?" he said with another smile and a shrug.

* * *

"Kaitlin, are you okay in there?"

She shook her head, just after realizing her mother couldn't see her shake her head. "No," she sobbed, feeling the tears hit the jeans and soaking through to her skin. "Not okay. So not okay!" She opened the door, tears streaming down her face and her mother's shocked look telling her she was a mess.

"Why not? Is this about Blair Waldorf again?"

"No. Fuck her! This is," she stuttered. "This is all about that ball, that ball that I just know Chuck is going to be at and I can feel it in my bones, mom, I can feel the drama if I show up and I-" she sank down into a chair nearby and looked up. "All I can think of when I'm in that dress is what Chuck would think. And I don't want to be _that_ girl! I've never cared before. Danny never cared, he always loved my ragged jeans and washed out shirts. But Chuck is so, he's so pristine! I feel like a slob compared to him."

"You," Cora said, pointing a sharp finger at her daughter. "Are absolutely no slob, young lady! And don't you let me hear you say that one more time! You're a character, sweetheart, and that takes a lot out of a person. You're so headstrong and honest that it's always scared me a bit, but one thing you have an absolute knack for is vintage shirts and ragged jeans."

Cora pulled out a handkerchief from her bag and patted away the tears on Katie's cheeks, finally acting like a doting mother.

"And this dress, Katie, you look like a princess. My princess." She smiled and Katie couldn't help herself but smile back.

"You really think so?"

"I know so. And Chuck is an idiot, pardon me honey, but he is, if he ever let you go without a fight. He really should know better-"

"I don't want to be in his world," Katie interrupted.

"That doesn't mean you stop fighting, if you really want something. What you need to figure out, missy, is if you want Chuck and what you're prepared to do to get him."

Katie sighed and nodded, knowing her mother was absolutely right. Which was a very scary thing.

* * *

"Yes?" Chuck said as he answered.

"It's me."

"Kait?" he said, totally and utterly surprised.

"Yeah, look, I just, I wanted to ask you… Maybe we could go to dinner before this thing I have tonight with my mother?"

"Sure," he said, not sure what else to say.

"Okay, I'll be staying at an overnight apartment, I'll send a car to pick you up at five."

"Sure," he said again, his voice a little unsteady.

"And Chuck?" she said, her voice so gentle he could almost see her smile in his mind's eye.

"Yes, Kaitlin?"

"You're not allergic are you?"

He laughed. "No."

"Good. See you tonight."

And before he had time to respond she'd hung up.

Now he just had to cancel dinner with Blair and all would be well…

* * *

"Nice hotel room," Nate chuckled, looking around the small apartment that acted as a hotel room.

"Lily's doting on me since I left for Hudson, even after what I did…"

"Jenny, you really didn't do anything wrong," he said, turning his heavy gaze on her. She felt like a crumpled piece of paper when he did that, like everything inside her just folded together and there was no stopping it.

"Sure I did, I knew what it would do, to us, to Chuck, to Blair, even to Serena…"

"Us? But not me?"

She looked up into his blue eyes and felt the weight of the pain there continue to crumple her. "Of course. Of course I thought about what you might think, what you might think of me and him and-"

He stopped her by putting a finger to her lips. "This isn't why I came."

"Then why?"

"You said you love me, Jenny."

She blushed, her eyes filling with tears.

"Don't cry, Jenny, please don't cry," he begged, seeing the water pool in the corners of her eyes. "The moment you said you loved me, Jesus, Jenny… I have never felt anything like it." He kissed her forehead and pulled her to his chest, feeling her nose burry itself in his shirt. "I know I said nothing, I just stood there, but Jenny." She looked up. "I love you too."

* * *

Blair frowned into the phone. "I've been rethinking dinner," she said. "I've read a few more reviews and the crowds are big and the portions are small." She looked down at her toes while the little brush smeared colour on her nails.

"I read the same thing," Chuck's smooth voice answered her, and a pang of anger kicked her in the stomach. "Why waste our time on mediocrity?"

"Where exactly did you read that?" she said, her eyes shifting from the vase to the curtains and then back again.

"I assume the same place you did," he said as the elevator to the Waldorf apartment dinged.

"I didn't," she said heatedly. "I lied because Anne Archibald doesn't want the face of her foundation to be associated with Chuck Bass." She saw Serena out in the foyer, sifting through some mail and giving her a careless and dubious look. "What's your excuse?" she said, narrowing her eyes in Serena's direction.

"Casey thinks you're too good for my bad reputation, and it's hurting business."

"Well, we can't very well risk our futures for a meaningless dinner," she said in a light tone as if she didn't care. But really, the fact that Chuck has called to cancel on her… It was crushing her heart as they spoke.

She dismissed him, saying goodbye and then turning her eyes back to Serena.

"Don't look at me like that," she said, admitting her broken heart. "Don't you have enough issues to deal with?"

"A secret relationship Blair?" Serena judged, her arms crossing over her chest. "Really?"

"We're not in a secret relationship…" Blair tried her best to look offended. "It's supposed to be an official relationship, but something is stopping him."

Serena narrowed her eyes. "The Hudson girl," she concluded.

"Probably, yes. And the baby doesn't make things better, now does it?"

Serena huffed. "Not a bit."

* * *

Five o'clock rolled around and Chuck waited for the car, waited for the doorman, waited for some kind of sign of that this was a good idea. So when he got a text from Katie, saying she wasn't done cooking and to tell him to tell the driver to take a detour, he couldn't help but feel a little better. Seconds later, the car rolled up and the doorman called for him.

Perfect timing.

* * *

She set the plate on the table just as he walked through the door to the apartment and she smiled at him. "You're wearing a dress?" he said, a look of mock disbelief on his face.

"Hello to you too," she smiled. "And yes, tonight, I wear a dress."

The dress was simple, but neat and it might make him think her thing with her mother was something other than the ball she was actually going to. If he found out she was going, he would too. And she knew how he hated the big thing events after what happened with Jenny. The white base and black lace was cute, easy, simple and clean cut. Very elegant, and one of her mother's best outfits for dress-up and dress-down.

"Do you want something to drink?" she offered, walking over to the bar, feeling a little odd as she ran a finger along the necks of all of them.

"I'll take a whiskey," he said and nodded.

"Which one?" She held up the two bottles and he smiled.

"Left."

She then, behind the cover of the bar, poured two glasses; one for him, and one of her. His eyes were bugging out of his head when she came up to him, sipping her glass casually and handing him his.

"Katie!" He looked appalled.

"What?" she said, not sure what he was so stunned for. He'd been drinking since he was what, fourteen?

"The baby!" he snarled.

She chocked on the mouth full of liquid and then she started laughing. "What baby? Chuck, I told Blair, there is no baby!"

His mouth was open and his eyes were wide.

"I guess she didn't believe me, or want you to know, either way, Chuck, we're in the clear."

He blinked, blinking away what looked like tears and it tugged on the façade she'd been keeping so tight around herself all night.

"There's no baby?" He took a step towards her and she put down her glass, shaking her head.

"No baby, but it should elevate your status as a sinner," she smiled. "And mine as a saint."

"Now that would work very well as a theme for tonight," he murmured and then pulled her to him, his mouth intent on finding hers.


	16. Chapter 16

**Brutal Honesty**

_Chapter 16. Among sinners and saints_

_

* * *

_

Attention party people, Bass' black and white has added some fire and ice. Whether you're a saint or a sinner, the afterlife never looked so good.

* * *

"Great," Serena said with an annoyed sigh. "Now neither of these will work." She turned around to look at Eric and Elliot. "Should I be a saint or a sinner?"

Eric crossed his arms and titled his head. "Dan versus Nate was hard enough; I am not touching good versus bad Serena. We'll see you later-"

"We should go as Bacchuis and Serguis," Elliot said, putting a hand on Eric's arms.

"Yes we should."

"Thanks guys," Serena said, trying to smile as she walked over to the next racket of dresses.

Why had she even been attempting to chose between the two guys? Neither of them were in town, and beside, for all she knew Little J had gotten her hooks into Nate by now anyway.

She grunted and left the store, hoping the next one would hold the answers to all her questions.

* * *

His hands slid down her back and she wrapper her arms around his neck, sliding a hand up into his hair.

"Mm," he moaned, gently biting her bottom lip. "Damn."

"What?" she smiled, pulling away from him.

He shook his head, looking into her eyes and there was a fire there that made Katie want to cower away. Instead she slid his jacket off his shoulders, placing it neatly on the back of the couch and trailing a finger down the buttons of his shirt. Chuck was looking at her the entire time, and every now and then his eyes flickered to the bare skin of her legs, her arms and the small patch of bare skin in the neckline of her dress.

"Tell me what you're thinking?" she asked, tugging at the top button teasingly.

"I'm thinking I want you, but I don't want to make the first move."

"You're so tough, so bad-ass and you can't even hit on an 18 year old?" She shook her head and made a clicking sound with her tongue. "That's really too bad," Katie said with a shrug and turned around to walk away from him. But he caught her, lifting her up on the side table, knocking the frame off it.

"What was that?" he murmured as he kissed her neck, while she giggled like a schoolgirl.

"Nothing," she squeaked when his hands found her ribs, tickling her while he nipped at her neck.

"You called me incompetent," he mused against her skin, his hand travelling up her thigh and wrapping both her legs around his waist.

"Did I? I don't remember that," she laughed, and leaned her head against the wall as his mouth continued to travel down her neckline.

"Mm," he confirmed. "You did."

He then took his mouth from her skin and looked at her.

"What?" she asked, baffled at the look on his face.

"This needs to come off," he said, tugging on the rumpled skirt of her dress.

She raised and eyebrow and smirked. "And what's stopping you?" she snapped, as snarky as she could muster with his obvious want for her pressed against the inside of her leg.

"You," he smiled. "Are the devil."

"No." She smiled, a wide grin that lit up her face. "But I am corrupted by a dark prince."

He scoffed and claimed her mouth again, before claiming the rest of her. During which, Katie was sure the bed was going to either give up under them or make a dent in the wall by the headboard.

* * *

Two hours later, Chuck emerged from the apartment Katie was staying at with the biggest grin on his face. His hair was rumpled, his jacket a tiny bit creased and his eyes were shining like the sun. He looked up the building, searching the windows and finding a girl wrapped in a sheet looking down at him. She put her hand to the windowpane and he waved back, smiling as he did, before he got in the car and left her standing there.

He was glad he'd cancelled with Blair to go see Katie, even if her had given Blair the official yes to being them again. This was cheating, he guessed, but was it really cheating if his heart was in the wrong place when he was with the girl supposedly his?

* * *

Serena pulled the dress on and waited for the clock to tick away and time to go come around.

She looked in the mirror and smiled smugly. Nate and Dan were going to eat their hearts out when they came home and saw the pictures of her in this dress. She just knew it.

* * *

Cora waited outside her daughter's over-night apartment and hoped she would get her butt down sometime soon; or they were going to be so late.

"Mrs Corrigan, maybe someone should go up and get her?" her driver said and she smiled at him.

"No, thank you though. She'll be down when she's ready," she said and under her breath she added: "Whenever that might be."

The door opened and Katie smiled at her, her eyes a little red around the edges and her face a bit pale.

"Kaitlin, what's wrong?" she mused, rushing up to her daughter.

"I haven't been to one of these things since Nina…" She swallowed hard and looked up at her mother.

"Oh sweetheart," Cora said with a bemused little smile. "It was hard for me too, the first couple of times. It still is sometimes. She used to have such fun getting dressed up, didn't she? She was always in your room, stealing things you hated and never used, and then making Harry tell her she was pretty…" Cora laughed and looked down at Katie.

"Yeah, she did. I'm all made-up because she would never have let me hear the end of it if she was here and I went to this without make-up!" Katie cracked a smile so wide her cheeks looks strained and Cora laughed.

"You know it! Now come on, get in the car so we can get on home sometime today and sleep…"

"You're getting old, mama, wanting to go to bed early."

"Shush."

"How's dad by the way?"

"He called, said all the papers are in order and my divorce is all in order. We should be getting married again sometime next year," Cora said, filling her daughter in while they got in the car.

"Mom! That's great! Harry and Nick are going to be overjoyed!"

"And you?" Cora asked, carefully.

"Of course I'll be happy! I just wish," but she didn't finish, knowing her mother would be crushed if she said it. And sometimes crushing people just wasn't worth the honesty.

"I know," Cora nodded and looked blankly ahead. "I know."

* * *

Blair was standing in her foyer, looking at Dorota as she unzipped her dress and said "That's it, I'm going for it."

"What? Miss Blair, why?"

"Because, by Monday morning little miss Hudson is going to be safely tucked away back in Hudson, and I am going to be here, where he is. Which means, he will come back to me. I just need to show him I'm willing to do what it takes to be with him too."

Dorota made a face of severe disapproval.

"Don't look at me like that, I'm not saying I want long term with Chuck, I just…"

"Don't want her to have him?" Dorota filled in, knowing the girl she had helped raise all to well. Blair almost nodded, before she registered what Dorota had said and snorted.

"Just get me my coat."

* * *

By the time Chuck arrived at the Empire, the party was well in swing. Here and there people were seemingly having fun, but Casey complained that the level of scandal was too low.

On that, they could agree.

A few years ago, the ball/party would have been alive and kicking by now. Something seemed to be dragging it down and he was afraid he was the thing that was holding it back.

Jenny woke up, sheets tangled around her bare legs and the chest under her face rising just barely as he slept soundly under her. His arm was casually holding her to him, and his face was turned to hers. His full lips just a tiny bit open and they were a little swollen, just like hers, from all the kissing.

She moved closer to him and murmured something against his skin. Whether or not that's what she said, but to Nate, in his half sleeping state, it sounded like "I wish you'd come back with me to Hudson." But of course, he was almost asleep, and she clearly thought he was already sleeping, so he might have gotten it a bit wrong…

* * *

When the car stopped outside the Empire, Katie stared at her mother. "What are we doing here?"

"I should have told you," Cora began and Katie shook her head.

"No! I mean, yes, but, the Empire? Chuck lives here!" She stared beyond the windowpane of the backseat and out to the entrance of the Empire and the people that was still steadily arriving.

"If you want, you can go back home. I need to see some people about my line, and-"

"No, no, I said I'd come with you. I got all dolled up and everything. But!" She turned her eyes on her mother. "I am totally not happy about this, and I'm not sure how clear about that I can be?"

"I hear you loud and clear, sugar," her mother smiled.

"Good," Katie spat. "Let's get this over with," she muttered as she opened the door and got out of the backseat.

* * *

Vanessa stopped short, waiting, watching as Juliet searched the room for both Dan and Nate. She really should have told her that neither of them would be there, but somehow there was something more to this. Juliet was more than determined to ruin her relationships. It went beyond that, to the point where Vanessa was sure her real goal was not to destroy her relationships, but to destroy her life. And everything that went with it.

Behind her, Serena was arguing with the doorman; she couldn't get in since Serena van der Woodsen was already inside. She insisted that had to be a mistake. But since she didn't have her ID with her, she was excluded from the party.

Vanessa smiled, until somehow, Serena managed to get in and Juliet seemed to go on the prowl.

* * *

Cora was off, schmoozing and talking business, leaving Katie all alone. Well, not really, the ballroom of the Empire was filled with people, really jam packed and it had her a little uneasy. Chuck could be just about anywhere and she was not in the mood to deal with him.

So she kept her mind on what she could control.

She needed a drink; water if they by chance served it.

Yelling at the guy by the bar, he smiled and handed her a big glass of water and ice. She smiled back and thanked him, this time mouthing the words instead of straining her voice. Katie took the glass and looked around the room, suddenly her eyes catching. On Chuck, and Blair. She turned away when someone tapped her on the shoulder. Eric!

* * *

"What are you doing here?" he hissed, pulling her along the alcoves, away from the crowds.

"I came to see you," she said with a soft smile that could have killed him if it had been a year earlier.

"Why?"

"You're my boyfriend," she said with a laugh.

"We both know we've not been the same," he said, slowly, looking her in the eyes. "We both know this is going nowhere."

"Chuck-" she protested, leaning in to him. "Please."

A Waldorf begging? Chuck's mind was spinning a million miles a minute. On one hand there was Blair and New York, there was so much here for him. His whole life he had spent running – more like riding in a limo – up and down the streets of New York, he knew the city like the back of his own hand. His feelings towards New York were greater now, after having been half dead in remote parts of the world, so drugged down he could barely stand. But here, despite the schemes and the world of pain that could be brought on him, he knew he was safe and he even had a safety net. People who would be there for him, no matter what he had done before. Lily and Rufus, despite his faults, had forgiven him. He had Nate – when he decided to return – and he had Blair and Serena.

Then, of course, part of the problem, was Blair. As much as he had loved her, and had given up to be with her, it never really seemed to be enough. After the first round with Katie, he had been so sure he deserved Blair and her scheming mind. It was karma, payback for all the things he had done and it was part of why he'd gone to her after Katie left. He turned to the one person who would make sure he partly knew what a bad character he was, and partly made him feel loved in a strange and calculated way. Blair Waldorf was a menace, one he had gladly turned to when he felt alone and like he deserved no better.

In the midst of his insane life, suddenly there had been Katie. A clear voice of reason. An honest opinion. Someone who was unafraid of shooting him down.

His heart hammered away, his mind still reeling, when he felt Blair kiss him.

* * *

Serena felt dizzy, nauseous and unsteady. An arm caught her and Vanessa was staring her right in the eyes.

"Are you okay?" Vanessa asked, having seen Juliet close to Serena earlier, but not saying or doing anything of importance.

Serena shook her head, her eyes closing and she started sliding down the length of Vanessa's body. Thankfully, Vanessa wasn't alone. Someone helped her catch Serena before she hit the floor. Vanessa looked up, into the blue eyes of Elliot, Eric's boyfriend.

"We got ya," Eric murmured, nodding to Vanessa. "Can you help us get her outside? I don't want mom to see her like this…" Vanessa nodded in response and they made their way outside.

* * *

Clear across the room Juliet saw Serena stagger around. She waited, soon she would be so out of it she would have to got get her and get her to the apartment…

That's when Vanessa stepped in. Good, Juliet thought, maybe she'll be the perfect scapegoat – not until Serena was carried out of the ballroom by her brother did it click in Juliet's mind. She had failed in her attempt to kidnap and drug Serena. She had lost.

And worst of all, Vanessa would probably figure it out.

She sighed, pulled her cloak around tighter and quickly made her way outside, hopped in a cab and left New York, never to look back or really be remembered as anything other than trouble.

* * *

Casey saw the opportunity and she took it. Blair Waldorf in her undies, cooped up with Chuck Bass in an alcove, making out while the crowd was partying downstairs? It was the best thing that could happen to the Empire. Of course, she didn't pull the curtain apart herself, but she told one of the waiters to do it.

As she'd expected, the cheering crowd said it all.

The Empire was back on top.

* * *

Katie turned around, spinning in a circle, trying to see what all the cheering was about. The crowd was getting tighter, people knitting together and talking, buzzing about the latest. That's when she saw what they were all buzzing about; about the same time as she heard one of the girls behind her say it.

"Oh my god, is that… That's Blair Waldorf with Chuck!"

The small cluster of girls all pointed and giggled and Katie, standing beside them, felt angry. For no real reason she was out of breath and pain throbbed in the middle of her chest. Why was she so close? They were right there, right there, maybe twenty feet in front of her, god only knew how many feet up on the balcony. She wanted to turn on her heel and run. Run as fast and far as she could.

Some of the girls in the cluster had recognized her, gossiping about the apparent love triangle of her being there and the drama that was sure to ensue.

Katie glared at them. "There is no baby! There is no drama!" she yelled over the music, making her way through the crowd – right through their little group.

* * *

"-no drama!" He just about made out the last words over the buzz and music and Blair. He tore away from the kiss, a kiss that had turned into a public trick the moment the curtain had fallen. He bent over the banister, and caught a glimpse of dark hair fighting through the crowd, hurrying to get away. He recognized the colour of the hair, even in the strange lighting, and knew the way she moved. He'd spent hours thinking about her quiet grace and unique style of moving. He'd have recognized it just about anywhere, unless he was really high or really blind.

"Blair, I need to go," he said over his shoulder, turning to go after the brunette in the crowd. Somehow, without him really feeling it, Blair took his hand and followed him down the steps, through the crowd and while they were caught by Casey and applauded for a show well done – of course Casey would think it was a publicity stunt! – he saw Katie. Katie finally reaching the door. He looked back at Blair, whose eyes pleaded with him. Casey, having seen Katie as well, did the same thing.

"Don't," she said, half of a warning and half a plea the same as Blair's.

"I have to," he said, letting go of Blair and turning his back on a ballroom filled with cheering people.

* * *

Cora had seen it all, standing at a good angle and having witnessed both her daughter's break down, and the show on the balcony, all the while having the company of Lily van der Woodsen Bass Humphrey and her new husband – Rufus Humphrey.

"Are you going after her?" Lily asked, giving Cora a strange look.

Cora laughed. "If I went after Katie when she was mad when she was little, she would scream and bark and throw a fit over the fact that I cared enough to ask her why she was mad. When she got older, she started getting snarky and just bit off my concern. I think it's best I stay here," she smiled softly. "Besides, I think someone is already about to follow her," she said, nodding in the direction of Chuck.

"Charles?" Lily asked, giving Rufus and Cora a dubious look.

"Apparently," Cora said with a little smirk. "They've found each other."

"Isn't Katie still in high school?" Rufus asked with some concern.

Cora snorted with laughter. "Katie got her GED when she was sixteen, and she's been working since."

"But I thought she was in school with Jenny?" Rufus said. And Cora smiled in response.

"Katie's been tutoring, spending a lot of time there the past year. The school lets her hang around, hoping the other students can benefit from her over achiever status."

Lily laughed and shook her head. "I can't tell how jealous I am," she confessed. "Katie is honest and sweet, and apparently she's had some kind of influence over Chuck." They looked over and saw him get past the guards and out of the ballroom. "Which can only be a good thing."

"Oh I don't know, I wouldn't want to trade places with him right now…" Cora said, hoping Chuck could hold his own.

* * *

Dan woke up, somewhere hearing his phone buzzing frantically. He found it under his jeans, piled on the floor.

"Hello?" he said drowsily and from the other side of the world Eric barked something before he heard another voice, mumbling. "Serena?"

"I chose you, you know," she slurred. "You."

Then there was some noise, the clanking of keys and some other sounds he couldn't quite identify.

"Hello?"

"Eric? What's going on?"

"Juliet drugged Serena," Eric said, a little hiss in his voice. "But she's okay, we just got her home and we'll put her to bed. No need to worry, or come home sooner. Trust me. She'll have a killer hang over, but I don't think she got enough into her for any real damage."

"She said-"

"I heard. She chose you. Congratulations. I gotta go-"

"I Eric, I should have called earlier but…Tell her I won't be back for a while, when she wakes up."

"Why?"

"I'm going back with Jenny to Hudson. I know Serena chose me, now, but… I still need some time. To think."

"Call her in two days," Eric said. "You should be the one to tell her."

And then he hung up.

* * *

Jenny poked Nate in the chest, sitting up in a corner of the bed, her knees tucked under her chin and her eyes filled with tears.

"Please, just wake up," she mumbled, poking him again, gentler this time.

Nate stirred, moaning as he did. His eyes opened and she turned on the light beside the bed.

"Why are you up?" he asked, his voice hoarse and rough from sleep.

"I've been thinking."

A simple statement that made Nate moan as he turned around and face planted into his pillow.

"No, hey, up, look at me," Jenny said, her voice almost pleading with him to do what she asked. When he rolled over and looked at her, defeat in his eyes, her heart clenched.

"What?"

"I can't go back to New York," she said, simply stating the facts. "Not right now, not yet, it's way too soon. And I like my life in Hudson, really," she said, again trying to be reassuring.

"So what? You want to pretend this never happened?" he asked, his voice dull but his eyes really telling her how hurt he was.

"You've got a job here and a place to stay and I don't want you to leave all that. Not for me. Not unless you want to. You moved halfway across the world to get away from New York, and for all I know, get away from me. I can't ask you to come back, I just can't."

He just looked at her, a level look without a hint of revelation.

"That doesn't mean I didn't mean it when I said I love you," she said with a quiet sob. "Because I do, so much, and for so long, and tonight was, it was just pure heaven, Nate. But I can't ask you to do something for me, that I don't know if I could have done for you. You deserve to know that I would have been able to do the same for you. And I can't. I can't live in New York, where you belong. I can't go in every weekend, then I might as well stay there during the weeks and it's poison," she cried. "But please, please don't think I don't want you. I couldn't stand that…"

He reached out and touched her. "Jen." She looked up from her hands and at him, tears running down her face. "It's okay," he reassured her, some emotion back in his eyes. "A while back, when I met Katie, she sort of snatched the rug out from under me and then she said something I didn't think I would listen to, even when I said I would. She told me to go to Hudson, and see you. Not Little J, or the little Humphrey, but Jenny. And seeing you here, so brave, so ready to fight for me and so scared to lose me…" He shook his head and kissed her bare forearm. "I think I have to. I need to get to know the real you, and vice verse. Sure I love you, and I don't think that's going to change even if I see you in a different way."

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying I'll go back to Hudson with you. Not New York, not the Upper East Side, not Manhattan in any way," he said and pretended to shiver. "But to Hudson. I can find a job there, and go back to school next year. Maybe, if you're ready by then, we can go back to New York. Together. And that way we can keep each other grounded and know what's important."

"But?" she asked.

"No lies, no schemes, no snooping. We trust each other. Period."

She smiled. "Cross my heart," she swore and then agreed to be pulled back down into bed, laughing, as Nate pulled her against his chest and cradled her.

Together they fell asleep, the first night of many to come.


	17. Chapter 17

**Last chapter! **_But, if enough people wish it, I'll write the epilogue that's been tumbling around in my head since I finished this. I really hope you like the last chapter and please, pretty pretty please, review :)_

**

* * *

**

Brutal Honesty

_Chapter 17. This is not the end_

"Taxi!" Katie yelled the moment her shoes hit the curb. But the street was crowded, with limos and other black, sleek cars. "Not a damn taxi on the whole fucking street," she cursed.

She turned around and saw him, Chuck, having all the people at the door looking after him with a stunned look. She saw him, and walked away at as fast a pace as she could manage in her high shoes. Why had she let her mother convince her into wearing Jimmy Choos?

"Katie!" Chuck yelled after her. "Stop!" His hand caught her arm and she turned around, eyes blazing with anger.

"Take your hand off of me!" she snarled, slapping him clear across the face with the back of the hand she pushed him off with.

"Please," he said, his voice almost drowned out by the loud traffic of New York. "Blair was-"

"Do not say that she was just a warm body while I was away, because I might actually kill you if you do!" she shouted, smacking his chest so hard he took a few steps back, surprised by how strong she was.

"Kaitlin!" he yelled after her, running past her and holding his arms out, blocking the sidewalk. "Please, listen to me."

"Why? I told you the coast was clear, no baby, we jump into bed again and then I get tricked by my mother to come here and I see you with _her_! _Blair_. The one person who's been making my week – and life if she got the chance! – a misery. I should just go back to Hudson, go back to high school and forget all about you and your stupid ass plotting and scheming!" Her voice broke, but she looked as mad as she had before. Not even a tear in her eyes. "You, Charles Bass, are nothing but a coward, a cheater and worst of all; you are not worth the time I have already spent on you." Her eyes turned cold as he looked at her, the warmth in her brown eyes dying down. "Get out of my way. Now."

"No," he said, stepping in front of her yet again. "You're not leaving, not again. Not like this."

"The hell I won't!" she spat.

"Katie," he said, holding her firmly in place, both of his hands on either side of her shoulder.

"Let me go Chuck, or I will scream."

"Fine, you can scream; when I've said what I have to say!" His eyes didn't leave hers for a moment, but he felt more than a little hesitant. She was so cold, so angry, so unlike herself. "I remember when I first heard of you; you had my friends in knots, telling them how stupid they were, telling them the truth for the first times in their lives." He smiled. "Then I met you myself and you had me in a different type of knots within minutes. When we… I- I should have been thinking. I should have known better! I should have protected you, if not me."

Her jaw clenched and her eyes flickered away from his, but only for the shortest moment. His eyes were so intense, to intent on hers, she couldn't keep hers away.

"I am, after all, Chuck Bass; my name and reputation is reason enough for people to hate and fear me, but you were unafraid and weren't afraid to tell me." He shook his head, feeling the simple way of putting it bubble up. "Everything I am, you don't care about. Everything I do, you don't want. You made me feel what it felt like to need something, someone who wasn't like me or them," he said, tilting his head in the direction of the Empire's ball room. "I need you."

She took a deep breath, shaking as she did; his hands still firm on her shoulders.

"I need you, _because _you test me, _because_ you never take my word for anything," he chuckled. "Katie, when I'm with you I am less than Chuck Bass, heir and boy-billionaire. But when I'm with you, I am so much more than Chuck Bass, too. I'm a _man_," he said, the last part almost a whisper, a hiss in the darkness. "It scares me half out of my mind, but I need you. You. Not her. Not them. Hate me all you want, but know that today I chose you. Walking out on Blair, on that ballroom full of people," he shook his head. "I chose you."

He closed his eyes and let go of her, slowly dropping his hands from her shoulders. Her skin was burning from the pressure his warm hands had been putting on it and she shivered from the cold that rushed to the spots he'd abandoned. She kept looking at him, his face turned down, his closed eyes and the droop of his shoulders.

She felt the slow shake of her head, the tiny, tiny movement, before she actually knew she was moving her head. Her heart was aching, her shoulders tingling with the force the way he crumpled in front of her put on her heart and mind and was that empty thing that churned hollowly in her stomach, was that her soul?

She choked on his name when she tried to talk.

She tried to draw a deep breath but it caught in her throat.

"I," she whispered. "It's a good thing no one heard you," she said, completely out of breath. "That statement would have been terrible for business, Chuck…" Her eyes followed the emptiness move across his face, moving away and being replaced with a strange look that she couldn't read, right before he looked up at her.

"That's it? That's all you have to say?" His eyes went wide with surprise.

"What do you want me to say?" she argued. "What on earth do you want me to say in response to 'I need you' and 'I chose you'? Jesus Chuck!"

"Can't we do anything without arguing?" he argued back, throwing his hands up in a surrendering gesture.

"Apparently not!" she threw back.

"So?" He looked at her, demanding an answer.

"So, so, so! So of course I need you too, but I'm eighteen years old!"

"And?"

"Stop it! Don't lead me, don't try to steer me in the direction you want this to go, because if you do, we will never work!" she shouted at him.

"Yes," he said softly. "It will."

"And how the hell do you know?"

"Because you just said 'we'."

She couldn't help but laugh, giving up this particular fight. He was right, she had said 'we'.

"Now what?" she asked softly. "We wait? Let me grow up? What?"

He shrugged. "Hell if I know."

"Don't do that," she smiled. "Tell me, for once, what do you think happens now?"

"We wait. We see what happens."

"I'm not ready to be just yours just yet," Katie said firmly.

"I love you," he said, stroking her cheek as she leaned into his touch. Her eyes closed and she leaned forward, against him. She looked up into his eyes, right before she kissed him again. It was a sweet kiss, a confirmation of the words she couldn't say just yet.

"But I don't want you to wait around for me, Chuck, I don't want to be the reason you're not living your life, while I'm out living mine."

"If two people are meant to be together, eventually they find their way back. Even if that means going our different ways, for now."

She nodded, feeling helpless and hopeful and careful as Chuck leaned in and gave her another kiss that made her go weak at the knees. If someone had managed to miss his speech but saw the kind of the kiss he gave her, it would put him right back on the list of Casanovas.

* * *

Monday morning and everything was packed. She had said goodbye to Lily and Rufus, Eric and Elliot, even Blair, the night before. She had managed to pop in and tell Serena to get her act together and not blame everyone else, even if this one time was someone else's fault. Serena had laughed and told her she was much too brutal. Katie couldn't disagree with that.

Now, putting her bags in her mother's car, waiting for Cora to come down, she was saying goodbye to Chuck. Or, she wasn't really saying goodbye, she was babbling.

"-which means that by Christmas, I should be all settled and done with the plans for Harry's wedding and maybe you could even come out during the weekend there to attend the wedding. Sure it's nothing huge, it's just a tiny wedding in the park but we're hoping for some snow and maybe even the stars to come out and play." She smiled over her shoulder at him. "And you know, there' lots to do in Hudson. Apart from seeing me…"

"Would you slow down? I can barely understand you," he said, in that patronizing way that made her want to snap at him.

"Then open your ears, fishy."

"I still hate that," he frowned.

"I know," she beamed back and gave him a light kiss.

"I'll call you-"

"-every other day. And I'll send you an e-mail-"

"-once a week."

"How very organized of you," Cora mused as she came out the door and placed her own bag in the trunk. "Hurry up honey, we need to meet your father at the airport and get you back to Hudson before I have to go to Paris."

"Sure, mom."

Cora frowned. "What did I say about calling me that?" she said, walking around the car to get in.

"And life is back to normal," Katie laughed. She turned back to Chuck and kissed him, softly.

"Be good," he smirked.

"You too, and try to get that Casanova reputation back in swing. It'll make our 'friendship' a lot easier."

"Send me postcards," he said, kissing her again.

"Mm, I'll try to remember your address." He rolled her eyes and then she laughed again. "I'll miss you," she whispered and placed a finger on his lips.

"I'll miss you too."

The car honked. Katie patted the closed trunk with some force and shouted "All right already!" before looking back at a smiling Chuck. "See me soon?" she said, giving him another kiss and then jumping in the car, before he even had time to answer.

"Yeah," he said, watching the car drive away.

_

* * *

_

It's the end  
End where I begin  
It's the end  
End where I begin

Sometimes we don't learn  
From our mistakes  
Sometimes we've _no  
Choice but to walk  
Away, away_

__-The Script


	18. Jar of hearts  Valentines part 1

**A/N:** This is for a Valentine's day Challenge over at **therooftop** called Love/Hate. I'm posting it here in the BH thread because it is a part of that fic – it's an extension that takes place before the epilogue but after the last chapter. This is the first part of a two part sequel. The next part will be called Brave Face.

**Dis:** I do not own either Gossip Girl not the song Jar of hearts, originally by Christina Perri. But I down Katie and all other OC's.

Inspired by Maddi Jane's cover of Jar of hearts (youtube it!). Jesus the girl's got talent!

_So here's the thing:  
_It's been over a year since Katie left New York, leaving Chuck behind. In a way it's been a good year for the both of them, in many ways it's been the worst year of their lives.

* * *

**Jar of hearts **

– _a song fic  
_

"Don't!" she growled and averted her eyes. "I can't do this, I don't want to do this!"

"Katie-"

"No, no Chuck. It's too soon. It's just too soon. Go home. Go back to New York, go do what you do best."

"I just-"

"No!" she cried. "Please. Please..." She looked so tired, and suddenly so much older Chuck thought. As if she'd aged ten years since she saw him standing in the doorway.

_I know I can't take one more step towards you  
__Cause all that's waiting is regret  
__And don't you know I'm not your ghost anymore  
__You lost the love I loved the most_

Katie tried holding it together as she looked at him, he'd appeared out of nowhere, no warning, no nothing. suddenly he was just there and she could see the expectant look on his face when she'd answered the door. Now she was begging him to leave. There was hope in his voice.

"I just-"

"No!" she cried, desperate not to hear his excuses, not to hear the reason he was there. She was tired, she was so tired and she had been working so hard to forgive him. to forgive herself for her own part. No, she couldn't hear it. Not yet. He didn't understand, she knew he couldn't understand. She felt so very weary as she looked back up at him. "Please. Please..."

_I learned to live half alive  
__And now you want me one more time_

"I'm not leaving."

"Yes. You are." And the door between them closed with a bang.

_And who do you think you are  
__Running 'round leaving scars  
__Collecting your jar of hearts  
__And tearing love apart  
__You're gonna catch a cold  
__From the ice inside your soul  
__So don't come back for me  
__Who do you think you are_

"You're Chuck," a voice said from behind him. He turned around and saw Harry standing there, Katie's brother's brows closely knitted and a scowl on his face.

"Yes," he said, almost softly. He knew his voice would waver, but he had to. "Could you... Could you tell her I'll be back later?"

"It didn't look like she wanted to see you, Chuck," Harry said, his voice sharp when he spoke his name.

"Perhaps. But I have something for her. Something she should have..."

"I'll tell her."

When Chuck turned around, he thought he saw a curtain flutter in a window. he hoped she'd change her mind. And if she didn't, well he supposed he deserved that.

_I hear you're asking all around  
If I am anywhere to be found  
But I have grown too strong  
To ever fall back in your arms  
_

"He'll be back tonight," Harry said, looking at her like she was going to burst into tears at any minute.

"I heard."

"Wh-"

"Don't. Just, just don't."

She turned around, going up the stairs with tears in her eyes. She'd left New York a little over a year ago, and things change quickly when you're young. She kept telling herself that she wasn't in a relationship with Chuck. They had a deal. She was allowed to be young. And so was he. She had known what she'd gotten herself into when she started up with the young Bass playboy. She'd even known what she was doing when she told him she loved him.

But that had never really been the problem, she did love him. And he, in his own way, loved her too. According to him, more than he had ever loved Blair. But right there, that was one thing that was wrong. Blair. the bitchy brunette who thought she had some kind of dibs on Chuck just because they'd known each other for a lifetime and a half. Blair hated Katie, and Katie knew it.

That's why, when Chuck had called saying he'd done something stupid and Katie'd joking answered "What? Did you diddle Blair?" – his silence had spoken volumes. It was like a stone settled in her stomach, cold as ice and larger than she could have known. They weren't together, she kept thinking that. We do not have a relationship. But it didn't help.

"It's okay," she said, her voice almost cracking. She thought back on the night she'd met Danny for the first time since they broke up. "We said we'd be honest. I- Danny came by a while back and..."

"Katie." Chuck's voice had been the softest warning she had ever heard, but it had been warning nonetheless. "Don't."

"No, oh Chuck, not like you and Blair..." Why he should be allowed to be more upset about that then she had been over him sleeping with Blair, she had no idea. She really wasn't any better than him. That was like the pot calling the kettle black...

"Then what?" His voice had turned hard and she had felt so ashamed.

"He kissed me. Or well, I kissed him..."

"Look Kaitlin, we said we weren't together, I have no right to be upset..." He'd trailed off and she'd known just what he was about to say.

"That doesn't mean it doesn't hurt," she said and this time her voice did break.

_I learned to live half alive  
And now you want me one more time _

It had been so long since they had started hurting each other, not even knowing it when they did the things that would later come to pain the other.

"I love you, Katie," he always said. But next time he looked in the paper, there was a picture of him and some blond, some brunette, some redhead, and he felt like he betrayed her over and over and over... Technically he wasn't. But he should have been able to be faithful. On the other hand... He was Chuck Bass. That alone was reason enough for people to hate him.

The worst day of his life had been when Katie had said she'd done it too.

"Chuck," she sobbed. "Please, please forgive me." That was all she'd had to say. He'd known. And suddenly he felt what it meant to be jealous, to be overcome with grief for a love you'd thought would stand through anything. He'd finally felt what betrayal felt like. And he'd hated it. But he'd comforted her, saying it was okay. In his heart, he knew that that had been the day that had started putting miles between him and Katie, since distance hadn't been an issue before.

_And who do you think you are  
Running 'round leaving scars  
Collecting your jar of hearts  
And tearing love apart  
You're gonna catch a cold  
From the ice inside your soul  
So don't come back for me  
Who do you think you are_

"Don't knock," a guy said from behind him. He hated being snuck up on. He turned, and assumed that this must be Harry's husband Nick. "She hates it when you knock."

"Me specifically, or everyone?"

The guy laughed. "You specifically. I overheard her telling Harry earlier. She knows you're coming. Come on, let's go inside instead of standing here. She's watching us," he smiled, looking up at a window. Again, Chuck thought he saw a curtain flutter.

"Harry!" the guy yelled, Chuck still assumed this had to be Nick. Harry appeared and took a look at Chuck and turned to the other guy.

"Let's go honey, they're gonna wanna be alone," Harry said, a grim look on his face and not even a hint of sarcasm.

"Nice to meet you," Nick said, exiting with Harry's hand on his lower back.

"You too," he mumbled in response.

"She's upstairs," Harry said, before closing the door.

He came up the stairs almost hesitantly, feeling tired and a little scared. What now? Was this it? Was this really, really the end?

"Don't knock, I might kill you," she said from the other side of a half-closed door. "Just come in instead."

He opened the door and saw a bright yellow room, it was cluttered and lived in, picture frames and posters and old teddy bears on the bed. Green curtains that matched the rug and the yellow of her walls, pink covers and turquoise shelves. It looked like someone had thrown up color on the room, but for some reason, he liked it. It was very Katie, very to the point and in your face. He smiled and so did she.

"That might be the first time you ever did something I told you to do," she said with mild affection in her voice. It made him smile, and it made him want to hold her. But she looked different. Still tired. Still older. Almost... Almost like she had a broken heart.

_Dear, it took so long just to feel alright  
__Remember how to put back the light in my eyes  
__I wish I had missed the first time that we kissed  
__Cause you broke all your promises  
__And now you're back  
__You don't get to get me back_

"So..." She said it simply, more like a statement than a word waiting for him to continue. But hopefully he knew her well enough to pick that part up without her telling him.

"Yes, that's right." he said, his voice a little too eager for him. His eyes turned a darker shade as he looked up, pulling a blue box from his suit jacket. "I have something for you," he continued, his voice less eager, more drawling like it normally was.

She took the box as he handed it too her, feeling more than a little weird in doing so. The little mark on the box that made her gasp was the Tiffany's mark, one she'd never wanted nor needed. She looked at him and he seemed so excited.

"You know," she said softly while she pulled at the box, fidgeting. "I won't be bought..."

"I know," he said simply, moving over to her and holding his hands over hers, he opened the box. "And it doesn't matter."

The little bracelet, a thin silver chain wrapped around another and another, holding a small pendant with a K on it, it sparkled in the light and she felt her breath catch in her throat.

"What do you think?" he asked.

"It's beautiful."

"But?"

She looked up at him with tears in her eyes. "But I can't accept it. Not like this. Not while we are still... Chuck, I can't laugh properly. I can't think. I just feel so guilty and I know I shouldn't, and I know I should hate you for what you've done to me – over and over and over!" She swallowed hard. "And I think a part of me does. A part of me does hate you for all the blond and the redheads you've been seen with, for all the make-out sessions you've had on the town, in public, where everyone would know and see and damn it Chuck!" Her voice had risen, finally his name came out as a shout. "Do you have any fucking idea what you've done to me?"

_And who do you think you are  
__Running 'round leaving scars  
__Collecting your jar of hearts  
__And tearing love apart  
__You're gonna catch a cold  
__From the ice inside your soul  
__So don't come back for me  
__Don't come back at all_

"You've been killing me, sending me cute texts and e-mails and the day after I see you in the paper, or online and it's all about your newest conquest! I hear Jenny and Nate talking, talking about the latest Gossip Girl blast when they think I can't hear them. I hear Dan calling Serena and saying someone needs to tell you what you're doing to me – but no one ever seems to. Serena hates me, so does Blair, and I bet they think it's awesome that you're sleeping around – even if I know we're not together, Jesus! How many times don't you think I've repeated that to myself? How many times don't you think I told myself the very same thing when Danny was here? Or when Doug asked me on a date? Or when Lily told me to go flirt with the barista? Huh? Do you have ANY IDEA?" She screamed, punching his chest as she did. He took a stumbling step back, and that's when she saw the tears in his eyes.

"I should have left when you told me to," he said, his voice barely a whisper when he closed the box, took it from her hands and took a step back. "I am sorry." He let out a breath. "If it matters at all."

He met her eyes and she nodded. "It does. But you can't say that you don't feel the same way, can you?"

"No, I can't." He took a step forward again, giving her a light kiss on the cheek. "As much as I love you, I hate you for not being with only me."

She nodded. "I know. I hate me too. And I can't live like that."

He nodded in return. "I understand."

_And who do you think you are  
__Running 'round leaving scars  
__Collecting your jar of hearts  
__And tearing love apart  
__You're gonna catch a cold  
__From the ice inside your soul  
__Don't come back for me  
__Don't come back at all_

She watched him from her window as he left. He looked like someone had beaten him, his shoulders were stiff, but his posture was so different from what it usually looked like. Chuck always had his head up high, now he seemed so old when he walked. Like her grandfather did.

"I don't think I can ever forgive you," she whispered at the window, and just in the moment he disappeared behind a corner. "Or if you can ever stop hating me for what I just did to you..."

_Who do you think you are?  
__Who do you think you are?  
__Who do you think you are?_

_

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Tell me what you think! And just to clarify, no, this is not the epilogue :) The epilogue is based on what happens here and in the next part.

R&R lovelies! Thank you3


	19. Brave Face Valentines part 2

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A/N: This is for a Valentine's day Challenge over at therooftop called Love/Hate. I'm posting it here in the BH thread because it is a part of that fic – it's an extension that takes place before the epilogue but after the last chapter. This is the second part in a two part sequel.

Dis: I do not own either Gossip Girl nor the song Brave face by Delta Goodrem. But I do own Katie and all other OC's.

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* * *

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****************Brave Face

_-a song fic_

"It's me," she said, the moment he answered his phone. The other end died down to silence, something almost haunting about the way he just didn't say anything at all. She kept waiting, but there was nothing coming. "Chuck... I-"

What could she possibly say? She'd told him she hated him!

"I miss you."

"So?" There was ice and broken glass in his voice, something that made her even less confident about this. What could she really say?

"So it's worse than feeling guilty. We've both proven we suck at trying to live our lives in peace, not feeling guilty, keeping in touch. We suck at it, Chuck!" She let out a laugh, and she could hear a responding snort on the other side of the phone. "Maybe we shouldn't try so hard not to be together?"

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying I'm in New York. And I miss you."

_Put your brave face on  
The one you wore when you stole my heart_

He swallowed hard, wondering, thinking about what to say. How could he turn her down when she quite obviously was throwing something out there and for once, he wanted to say 'I'll be right there' and mean it. But something was stopping him.

Blair. Blair was stopping him. Her hand on his arm, the look in her eyes, the way she tugged at his phone. He didn't want to let it go, he wanted to hear Katie's voice everyday, all day and not even stop to pause. But he was too weak. He was nothing like himself. He heard Katie saying his name, waiting for him to speak.

"I'm sorry, but Chuck can't come to the phone right now. He zoned out. I guess seeing me in his bed is enough for him to forget all about you..." And she hung up.

He closed his eyes, thinking about the way Katie had pushed him away. About Blair meeting him when he came home. And then, in the middle of all this jumbled up pain and weariness, was the slowly burning sun that Katie had put in his chest. The warm glow that he felt every time he looked at her photo. Hearing her saying she missed him... That she was there.

"Give me my phone," he said, his voice hard and emotionless. Blair looked at him with a slight hint of fear, the stone cold look in his eyes telling her there was something wrong. She'd overstepped, and he finally knew what it was making him feel so bad. It was her and her stupid schemes. "Then, get out."

He watched Blair scramble to move, to keep her composure. She failed.

"It's me," he said, when she picked up her phone. "And I'll be right there."

_Won't you hold my hand  
We'll jump together into__ anything that could possibly happen_

The knock on the door stopped her pacing back and forth. She took a deep breath and kept her hand on the doorknob for as long as she could stand it.

"Don't make me knock on the door, Katie," he said softly, she could hear the smile in his drawling voice. "Or you might kill me," he joked, quoting her pretty much perfectly. She let out a sharp laugh and opened the door to see his smiling face on the other side.

"Hi," she breathed and his smile grew wider.

"So, you missed me did you?"

"So, you had Blair in your bed did you?" she said, maybe a little too sharply.

"No. She wasn't in my bed," he said, completely confident and still smiling. "And that's why she answered it the way she did."

"Mad is she?" Katie chirped, stepping out of the way and Chuck coming into the living room. "How did you know where I was?"

"Despite what you may think," he said sweetly, "I do know you, Kait."

"Really? What do you know about me?" she challenged, leaning against the door to the apartment, registering the chattering on the radio, the voices melting together while she looked into Chuck's eyes. It all seemed to slip away...

"I know you're a coffee addict. You're smart. You're brutally honest. You rather wear my pajama bottoms than your own, you almost never wear make-up and don't really need to. I think your wardrobe has to be 95% jeans and t-shirts, because it's what you wear the most, and you wear it well – even the stuff that's worn to death and vintage and torn at the edges. You used to read to your sister when you were younger, and you still do, mouthing the words as you read a book. More often than not you'll comment that you think she would have liked it... You have three pictures in you wallet – your sister, your brother and Nick and a picture of your house in Hudson. You don't eat candy, really, but you love chocolate. You dream of being a teacher," Katie took a half of a step closer to him, a soft gasp stifled by the hand over her mouth.

"You talk in your sleep, having whole conversations with whoever it is you're dreaming of. You love Cream Soda and the passionately pink color the sky turns when the sun is setting in the summer, even if you don't really like pink. You like wearing colors that clash, green and purple, orange and green, yellow and purple. You always wear earrings. You hate the silence, you can't sleep when it's too quiet and you'd rather have music on than let it become too quiet. You don't like shoes and you really don't like wearing heals, which is odd considering how short you are," he said, trailing a hand down her bare arm and she laughed.

"You like _Win a date with Tad Hamilton_, and I counted, you have five smiles too. You hate using soap, so you use some nature thing I still can't wrap my head around. You have the worst sense of humor, and you're constantly sarcastic! When you look in the mirror, you always do half a shrug, like you don't even care. And I love how you, when you're nervous, bite your bottom lip until it's white. You paint your fingernails in the craziest colors, just so they won't match anything you wear. I know that when I told you I love you, you barely believed me. I know when you were 12, you fell and scraped your knee, leaving a scar that you hate – but you also broke your right wrist, which is why you're left handed now. You-"

"Stop." Katie put a finger to his lips and shook her head. "Please, stop." Her voice was soft as summer rain and she smiled. "I didn't think you'd be able to think of anything," she admitted, looking at their feet for a moment. Slowly, from the radio, music spilled out and the chatter died down. It was a soft melody that Katie loved.

"And I know you love this song..." he whispered. "Dance with me?"

_'cause we're still so young  
Ask me to dance in this hotel room_

_Then let's get out of here_

_And hit the airport with nothing but a carry on between us_

She put her hand in his, her arm around his shoulder and with a smile he started swaying them to the rhythm of the music.

"I missed you, Kait."

"I know," she smiled.

"And I notice everything about you. Not just the big stuff like you hair color and what you wear. Everything. Even the color of your nails."

She smiled again, this time it was a shy smile that was totally unlike Katie. "So I heard."

"So, what now? Where do we go from here?"

"How about we stop lying to ourselves and each other? How about we just..."

"Be together?"

"Yes," she beamed.

_You take my over __analyze away  
__It's you and me against the world today_

"Blair will hate you even more," Chuck said quietly.

"Danny'll come looking for you..." Katie frowned. "I guess no one's gonna be really happy about this."

"Not no one..." He smiled.

_Feels like I__'m running  
__With my high heels on  
__And they're chasing us waiting  
__For it to all go wrong_

It was two days later, February 14th and one of the worst days Katie knew - Valentine's day. Who would get the idea to celebrate love in the name of some poor guy who was tortured and killed? Seriously twisted, she thought as she got out of the cab and saw Chuck in the door. It was finally time to tell people Katie was back, and this time she was staying.

"You look scared," Chuck commented.

"Have you met your family?" she asked, raising a questioning eyebrow. He laughed at her, giving her a kiss on the lips and then taking her hand.

"You'll be fine."

_You're my umbrella against their  
__Sticks and stones  
__As long as we keep smiling  
__They'll never know_

'Just remember, keep smiling, Kait,' Jenny'd texted her. "Thanks for the confidence," she'd muttered and turned her phone off before she got another one from either Dan or Nate.

She squeezed Chuck's hand as they waited for the elevator to ding, telling them it was time to get in, go up and face the music.

_Put your brave face on  
__Put your brave face on_

"Stop squeezing my hand," Chuck said softly, "I quite like it and I think you might break it if you keep it up."

"You're so different," she said, looking at him in awe.

"Different?"

"Yeah, now that we're... You're smiling much more," she said, almost like she'd just discovered he could smile. That he could look genuinely happy.

"Well, maybe I'm happier?" he said, shrugging. "Here we go." They entered the elevator and Katie didn't notice she was holding her breath until Chuck nudged her. "If you don't breathe, you're going to turn blue."

"I was breathing," she defended herself, knowing full well it was a lie.

"Right," he answered, giving her an amused smile.

_It's clear blue skies  
__Flying 30,000 feet above  
__No one can touch us 'cause we're so in love  
__Look into my eyes  
__Meet me there don't look down_

"Kaitlin!" Lily van der Woodsen-Bass-Humphrey called out, her long blond hair sweeping around her shoulder in a very un-Lily-like way. Serena, standing behind her, glared at Katie unappreciatively. "I'm so glad it's you coming out of that elevator with Charles," she said, a little crease between her eyebrows.

"Me too," Katie replied and received a massive hug from the blonde, Lily giving a soft exhale of relief into Katie's hair.

"How is he?" she whispered.

"I think, happy," Katie answered in just as low a voice, trying to not let Chuck know they were talking about him. "How was he, before?" She couldn't say it. She wouldn't.

"Hard."

Katie nodded. She understood well enough. Chuck has this annoying thing about himself, thinking everyone always thought the worst of him off the bat, trying hard to not let anyone down and always thought he did. To Chuck, Chuck was never enough. And her telling him she hated him, that had to have set a few of those dark moments off, probably in a row.

"Katie," Eric said, coming running down the stairs with a smile. "How are you?" he threw his arms around her in a hug, and Katie smiled.

"I'm fine Eric!" she laughed as he wobbled them back and forth on the floor.

"How's Jenny? How's Nate? Are they still together? How's Dan doing?" Eric bombarded her with questions and she laughed again.

"It's all good," Katie answered and whispered in his ear, "And Joe's been asking about you."

Eric blushed and looked away, making Katie smile even wider. Serena, still glaring, started to look a little suspicious as her brother came away from Katie blushing. Katie could see it in her eyes, and it actually made her smile at Serena. Something she wouldn't have done normally.

"Hi Serena," she said, in an almost sickly sweet voice. "It's good to see you again."

"Hmph," was the only response she got, before someone came storming in.

"You IDIOT!"

_Feels like I__'m running  
__With my high heels on  
__And they're chasing us waiting  
__For it to all go wrong_

Looking over Chuck's shoulder Katie could see the raging Blair storming into the apartment. She repeated her statement a few times, coming closer to Chuck and finally slapping him clear across the cheek. He winced away, blocking Blair's access to Katie. She put a gentle hand on his shoulder and he looked over his shoulder at her.

"You're okay?" he asked, his voice low.

"Yes. You?"

"Been better," he said, just as she saw how the slap started giving him a strange blush across the cheekbone.

"You bitch." Blair glared at her after having spoken, just standing there.

"All right Blair, that's enough," Lily said in a barely chastising tone. "You can't barge in here and insult people any which way."

"She's doing it again," Blair complained, but not at either of the adults. Her complaint was aimed at Serena, who's eyes turned darker.

"Yeah."

"Stop it!" Chuck roared, putting an arm around Katie as he did. "Right now! You-" he turned to Blair, "You need to get over yourself. And you!" This time he turned his angry glare at Serena. "You should really know better!"

_You're my umbrella against their  
__Sticks and stones  
__As long as we keep smiling  
__They'll never know_

"There's no need to shout!" Blair screamed.

Katie, with her eyebrows raised, turned to Blair. "You're really not getting over this anytime soon are you? Yes, we've both been idiots and now Chuck and I are done being stupid. I love him, so you need to get over it! And you, miss Blondie, you should know better than to meddle in people's lives like this, when Blair is leading the way. Haven't you guys had enough of being idiots? Look what happened to your boyfriends? They've escaped New York! Dan and Nate are both in Hudson, hoping to get away from you! And when today is over..." She looked at Chuck and felt just enough of a pang of insecurity to not finish.

"After today, I'm leaving for Hudson too. Casey can manage all my affairs and I can go in some days a week. There is no real reason for me to stick around."

"Charles, you've got family here," Lily said softly.

"Yes, and I doubt you and Rufus and Eric are going anywhere. It's just... Katie is more than family."

_Put your brave face on  
__Put your brave face on_

"I feel done, like I've grown up enough."

"And I feel ready, to not be Chuck Bass, playboy, anymore."

_You take my over __analyze away  
__It's you and me  
__Against the world today_

"You're leaving New York?" Blair asked, her voice unsteady and her eyes glaced over with tears.

"Yes."

"For a while anyway," Katie interjected. "Who knows what happens later on?"

"Which reminds me of the second thing I had to tell you, Lily, Rufus," Chuck made curt nods and then took Katie's hand. "I hope you won't mind me eventually getting married?"

"Married?" Blair and Serena both screeched and then Lily laughed.

"Of course not! Oh Charles!"

She hugged him tight and Rufus gave Katie the same kind of hug before finally, after a long time, giving Chuck a handshake that resulted in the two men hugging. Katie and Lily, arms hooked and heads leaned together, looked at the two men in their lives and smiled happily at each other.

"I know I'm still so young," Katie said with a nod. "But we're not talking now. Or even in the next year. But someday. Chuck is... He's Chuck Bass, and it would be strange if he decided to get married so young. But at the same time, he already had so much for someone so young. I just hope our mutual feelings of being home stays with us."

She looked over her shoulder at Blair, who was sobbing in Serena's arms.

"And that people can get past the pain and their dislike for me, and be his friends again."

"Don't worry so much Katie," Chuck said with a husky voice, leaning in to kiss her cheek. "I can always make new friends. I don't think I can find another you."

_Feels like __I'm running  
__With my high heels on  
__And they're chasing us waiting  
__For it to all go wrong  
__You're my umbrella against their  
__Sticks and stones  
__As long as we keep smiling  
__They'll never know_

Hudson was very different from New York. It was even different from any other city Chuck had spent time in and he felt a bit disoriented at first. But soon he started feeling right at home. He switched his fancy suits for jeans and t-shirts, his ties and loafers for sunglasses and boots. He got his own little place, not far from Katie and her brother's house. He started college the following fall, together with Katie, and life was good. From time to time Chuck went into New York, just to make sure everything was going well. And it was. Usually he took Katie with him, other times he tried to mend fences with the people he'd left behind who was anything but happy. But every now and then, Chuck started feeling homesick. Getting restless and a little annoyed with the small town and the people. But for Katie, he stuck it out. It was all about keeping a brave face, and keeping hope alive. One day, someday, they'd get their happy ending. If they were lucky.

_Put your brave face on  
__Put your brave face on_

Brave Face


End file.
